It’s now three years since Russian tanks crossed into Ukrainian territory under the command of Vladimir Putin, resulting in the tragic loss of many thousands of innocent lives. Away from the much-documented fight at the front, ordinary people from all walks of life are also caught in the crossfire. Ukraine’s bar industry continues to face a daily fight to operate.
At Hendrick’s Bar in Kyiv, bar manager Nadir Kuchkarov gives Drinks International a sobering account of the past three years.
“In the first weeks, the city was almost completely empty, and part of the bar team left the city. Combat operations were underway on the approaches to Kyiv. Our bar’s kitchen was used for volunteer purposes to provide food to the units defending the city,” says Kuchkarov.
“After the de-occupation of the region, people began returning to the city. Our bar is located in a basement and is technically a bomb shelter, so during air raid alerts, the residents of the building took shelter in the bar. We resumed full operations at the beginning of autumn 2022. We thought it would be difficult to fully restore the bar’s operations, but to our delight, our guests actively supported us and we were able to return to a stable work routine.
“A fairly big challenge has been the curfew restrictions, which are still in effect, from midnight until 5am. This is a serious issue for the bar as we used to operate until 3am, but now we have to call last orders at 10.30pm and close by 11pm to allow our staff to get home before the curfew begins.
“Before the war, our bar had a lot of tourists – some even flew to Kyiv for the weekend specifically to visit Hendrick’s and enjoy Ukrainian hospitality, high service standards, and the quality of the city’s restaurants and bars. There is, of course, no flow of tourists into the country right now, but a number of foreigners are still in the city, and we’re glad that some of them have also become our regular guests.”
The other side of the border
It is worth documenting the effects of war brought by political and trade isolation on the other side of the Ukrainian border. Prior to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia had a thriving bar industry, with a leading international bar show, and venues from Moscow and St Petersburg regularly featuring on the world stage. That has all gone.
Tourism has become a thing of the past. Something keenly felt by El Copitas in St Petersburg, once a stalwart of The World’s 50 Best Bars, which has lost virtually all its international trade and has felt the effects of the western world’s disassociation from all things Russia.
“Looking back from the FIFA World Cup in 2018 to now, it’s crazy how different it is. The country was filled with international travellers and now we rarely get anyone from outside Russia at the bar,” says Daniil Zolotukhin, bar manager at El Copitas.
At the outbreak of the war, Russian vodka was either boycotted or smashed on supermarket shelves across the US and parts of Europe in solidarity towards Ukraine and in protest against Putin. Today, Russian products remain largely vetoed while heavy criticism is unloaded on companies that choose to continue trading with the country. Zolotukhin says that, while it’s difficult to invite people to visit Russia, it’s even harder for them to travel or do business overseas.
“Of course, our hearts go out to those suffering in Ukraine and we remain optimistic things will improve in the near future. We miss our industry friends from Ukraine and all over the world. We’ve used this time to renovate the bar and more recently we were fortunate enough to do some work in Mexico, including a takeover at Licoreria Limantour.
“In Russia major spirits companies at large aren’t operating here, anything we get is coming from third-party distributors in nearby countries, which has driven our prices up a lot.”
In Ukraine, the major players continue to support and trade with Ukraine, but Kuchkarov says they’ve struggled with supply for very different reasons.
“At the beginning of the war, missile strikes destroyed warehouses of the largest alcohol companies operating in the market, so the range of available products was quite limited,” says Kuchkarov. “None of the major alcohol companies closed their offices in the country and continued working to stabilise the situation with the product shortages.
“Currently, we do not feel any difficulties with the supply of core products from companies. Yes, new products and unique items come to us less frequently, but we all understand that we are living in a time of war, and the fact that bars are still operating and developing is already a victory.”
On the eve of Hendrick’s Bar’s 10th anniversary, Kuchkarov concludes: “Of course, we hope for peace – but a stable peace, with guarantees of security and sovereignty for our country.
“In such a case, we are confident that the bar industry as a whole will develop rapidly, and the situation for our bar, our team and our guests will also significantly improve.”
