Number of restaurants in St. Petersburg drops as traffic falls

St. Petersburg Dining Sector Contracts as Traffic Drops The catering market in St. Petersburg is shrinking, with the total number of restaurants falling 3.1% over the past year to 1,700 establishments. This downward trend extends to cafes and fast-food outlets, both of which saw a 4% decline, leaving 2,500 and 3,500 venues respectively. Only the coffee shop segment remained stable, holding steady at 1,600 locations. The contraction in St. Petersburg is more pronounced than the average across Russia's 16 million-plus population cities. While the total number of dining establishments in these major urban centers decreased by less than 1% to 97,100, certain formats saw steeper nationwide drops—restaurants fell by 4%, cafes by 6%, and coffee shops and fast-food points by 3%. Segment Growth / Decline by City Cafes Chelyabinsk (+3%), Ufa (+2%), Moscow (-10%), Novosibirsk (-15%) Coffee Shops Rostov-on-Don (+47%), Voronezh (+14%), Ufa (+11%), Moscow (-15%) Fast Food Rostov-on-Don and Yekaterinburg (+3%), Omsk (-7%), Volgograd (-6%) Traffic Decline and the Impact of Terrace Bans Local restaurateurs report a significant drop in customer traffic. During the summer, order volumes fell 8.1% compared to the previous year. Total revenue only remained flat because the average check increased by 9.8%. Business owners attribute this shift to rising prices and a move toward more rational consumption habits among residents.