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Appetite for Catering Services Grows

Catering is a niche in the food service industry that is still developing in Ukraine with only seven to 10 major provides.  However, despite this relatively short list of industry leaders, increasingly more restaurants have been entering the catering and banqueting services business, citing demand and successful word of mouth advertising by their long-standing clients.

Industry insiders say that the demand for catering services by private individuals planning small parties - gatherings of 10, 30, or even 50 people - has been growing steadily over the last couple of years with the trend continuing into 2006.

Restaurants and hotels offering high-quality four- and five-star catering services, which target the business community, embassies, and other organizations that maintain an international presence in Ukraine, reported a spike in business this past year.

More Western and multinational companies have been holding business conferences and events in Kyiv and throughout Ukraine, which substantiates trends occurring in other sectors of the economy; namely, greater foreign investor interest in and more firms moving into Ukraine.

Catering to quality

Tatiana Kalashnik, the Conference & Banqueting Department Manager at Premier Palace, Kiev's only five-star hotel, located in the capital's central business, entertainment and shopping district, confirmed that demand from foreign businesses for her department's services has increased markedly since 2005.

"It's evident, in comparison to last year, that there has been considerable growth in the demand for five-star catering services," Kalashnik said.  "This growth could be tied to political changes, but one thing became quite clear, especially in the last six months - Western companies are no longer afraid to hold conferences in Ukraine."

This increased flow has also resulted in an increase in demand for conference rooms and banquet halls that offer high-quality standards for services, which are still in short supply and limited to a small number of four- and five-star hotels and restaurants operating in the city, she added.

"In Kiev, there are not enough first-class conference rooms and banquet halls that can accommodate 300 or more people.  There is simply almost nothing to choose from in Kiev that is of a high enough calibre to accommodate the expectations of Western companies," Kalashnik said.  

Premier Palace's priority in food service is conference and banqueting services, which is distinct, although related to the catering services it provides outside the territory of the hotel.

The hotel began offering catering services for VIP-gatherings three years ago and according to Kalashnik, Premier Palace's catering service provides the same five-star quality services offered at the hotel-just off the premises.

Premier Palace caters about five to seven large events annually, Kalashnik said, which are attended by anywhere up to 300 people, and almost never hosts smaller gatherings.  Some of its more recent events have included a buffet and cocktail at the Bohdana and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art, an evening at the Botanical Gardens located in Kiev's Pechersk region, a summer banquet at the Livadiyskyj Palace in Crimea, as well as one at the Crystal Palace.  It also recently provided catering services for the Nokia ball held at the Syvorovsky Lyceum.

Word-of-mouth growth

However the transition to catering services made by Soho, a classic, American-style steak and seafood restaurant located in north-central Kiev, shows that it's not just four- and five-star hotels that offer catering services in the capital, but some of the city's finest restaurants have also begun seeing potential in this food industry niche.

Aside from hotels and companies with a long-standing hold in the catering industry, such as Hetman-Furshet, a leading catering company that has offered catering and banquet services since 1995, more and more restaurants have begun capitalizing on the increased demand for catered parties, banquets, conferences and business events.

Soho began offering catering services only about one year ago, after regular clients, both private and business, began requesting that the restaurant prepare meals off the restaurants premises, according to Natalie Nazarenko, the Soho complex's general manager.

Nazarenko noted that Soho frequently hosts events at the restaurant itself, but that in the last year it has also catered events for up to 300 people at various banks, businesses, private homes and an array of other locations throughout the city.

Soho offers American and European-style cuisine and clients have both banquet- and buffet-style menus to choose from.  Nazarenko said that Soho caters about one to two events each month, additing that most of the clients requesting Soho's catering services are long-standing visitors, who choose the restaurants primarily for its cuisine.

As a result, Soho hasn't actively advertised its catering services, and the business has expanded primarily by word of mouth.

Olena Chokanska, who heads the newly opened Metropol Catering, noted that much of her company's new business also comes either on the recommendation of existing clients, or from people who have attended events that Metropol has catered.

Metropol recently catered an event at the Philharmonic in Kiev dedicated to a renowned Polish composer, which was attended by President Viktor Yushchenko's wife Kateryna, according to Chokanska.  She said that "as a result of that event.  Metropol attracted the attention of quite a few new clients.  By the end of the night I had given out all of my business cards."

Most recently, Metropol was hired to cater the reception for the new United States Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor held on June 5.

Network feasting

There are about seven to 10 large companies, and approximately 20 smaller firms offering catering services in Kiev.

Among the larger industry leader is Hetman Furshet, which has provided catering services since 1995, and with its 10 years of experience, can manage parties anywhere from 10 to 7.000 people, according to the company's website.  The Kozyrnaya Karta, Myrovaya Karta and Karta Blanche restaurant chains also offer catering services.

These networked restaurants boast a much broader menu than, say, Soho, which is not affiliated with any chain, given that their various kitchens can collectively offer anything ranging from steak to sushi.

Moreover, while Premier Palace restricts its target audience to large VIP-gatherings of 150-300 people, the catering facilities associated with these restaurant chains reportedly can manage groups ranging from as few as 10 to as many as several hundred people.

Crystal Catering, which operates under the Mirovaya Karta restaurant chain that includes Mimino, Sam's Steak House, Tequila House, Golden Gate Pub and Opium Club, offers meals from all of these restaurants, which means anything from tacos to burgers, shashlyk and steaks.

Others, like the Mymesa and Gurme Catering companies serve freshly prepared complete meals to schools, construction companies and other businesses throughout Kiev, filling the growing industrial catering niche.

According to Metropol Catering's Chokanska, this proliferation of companies and restaurants offering catering services is not a sign of industry maturity, as many of them have tended to reinvent the wheel instead of learning from the example set by more experienced companies.  She added that catering is not just about preparing and delivering meals to offices, but the capability to plan and manage an event from beginning to end down to the last details.

"A truly large catering company will have its own facilities, a large kitchen, specialized food lockers and freefers, huge thermoses, as well as other equipment necessary to transport everything from site to site," she said, nothing that the catering options provided by most restaurants offering catering as an added service make use of existing kitchens for their existing clients.

Nonetheless, providers of catering services appear to agree that demand has risen across all price rangers.  They say the expansion of a number of restaurants into catering shows that Ukrainians are more inclined to celebrate and network than in previous years.  Chokanska believes that the steady growth of the industry after Ukraine's economic crisis in 1998, which was tied to the collapse of the Russian stock market, is a sign that Ukrainians are feeling more confident in their economy and are more inclined to relax in the late 1990s, when they spent their money far more conservatively.

Moreover, she added that there is still room for all of these catering companies, given that "there is a variety of demand, including those who aim to serve hamburgers and marinated shashlyk, to those who expect full, high-quality services that manage events down to the last detail."

Soho's Nazarenko agreed that the demand for catering has grown and noted that "there are also a number of new restaurants cropping up outside the city.  In the summer months, people more frequently opt to travel outside Kyiv, and instead of ordering catering services as such, they order food and services from the restuarants themselves...opting to take in the fresh air [outside the city]."

by Orysia Kulick

Kyiv Post

July 6, 2006

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