Restaurants in Yekaterinburg have begun closing en masse.

      In Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, chef-driven restaurants and bars operating in the mid-price segment have begun to close. They cannot withstand rising costs and declining foot traffic.

      At the same time, some venue owners are still considering whether to cease operations. Decisions will be made based on the results of January. The main reasons: the introduction of VAT for companies with turnovers from 20 million rubles, increased spending on personnel, and tightened control over work with individual entrepreneurs (IEs), the self-employed and counterparties.

      — A huge number of publications are devoted to the crisis in the catering business. In 2025 two of our clients closed their restaurants that had existed for more than ten years. One of them was unable to meet its obligations and is in bankruptcy. The tax increases affect everyone. As a result of the cancellation of reduced rates on social contributions for small and medium-sized enterprises, the tax burden on payments to employees has risen sharply. To maintain previous salary levels, a company must spend more, which reduces the profitability of small businesses, — Pavel Samsonov, managing partner of the legal consulting group “Kom-Unity,” told EAN.

      As a result, businesses either lose profitability or are forced to raise prices. And most often — both.

      — Taxes by themselves rarely “close a restaurant,” but in combination with falling demand and rising costs they become a factor that makes a business economically unsustainable and pushes owners to close, — Samsonov noted.

      Earlier it became known that the number of bakeries in Yekaterinburg has decreased significantly.