133

News

Denmark’s restaurants and cafés struggling financially

Christian Wenande
November 22nd, 2016


This article is more than 8 years old.

Heightened competition means that 28 percent are on the cusp of financial ruin

Profit is hard to brew up these days (photo: Pixabay)

Over a quarter of Denmark’s restaurants and cafés are enduring such serious financial problems that they face closure.

According to a survey of 1,373 restaurants and cafés in Denmark by auditing firm Deloitte, 28 percent are staring into the abyss of financial ruin.

In fact, just 44 percent of the restaurants and cafés in Denmark have generated stable profits over the past three years.

“Typically, bankruptcy threatens when you have low solidity coupled with a low return on invested capital – or in other words, you have a difficult time making money when the accounts are empty,” Claus Jorch Andersen, a partner at Deloitte, said according to TV2 News.

“This is the reality that has affected every fourth restaurant owner. It can be a very difficult development to overcome.”

READ MORE: Copenhagen looking to curb its nightlife’s noise and rubbish

More competition
The industry seems to be struggling in general. The average profit per person employed in the industry has fallen from 12,000 kroner in 2014 to 8,400 last year.

Copenhagen and Aarhus have been the hardest hit areas of the country, and Andersen contends that the increase in fast-food outlets, pop-up food markets like Paper Island, and convenience food in supermarkets have given consumers many more options.

For instance, in Copenhagen the number of permits granted to establishments allowing them to stay open until 02:00 and 05:00 has also been on the increase in recent years, while the number of permits granted to outdoor events across the city has soared by 67 percent since 2010.


Share

Most popular

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to receive The Daily Post

















Latest Podcast

A survey carried out by Megafon for TV2 has found that 71 percent of parents have handed over children to daycare in spite of them being sick.

Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”