40% of Restaurants and Cafes of Azerbaijan Concentrated in Baku

The number of subjects providing catering services in Azerbaijan in 2014 increased by 25.4% to 13 850. However, about 40% (5 458) of the cafes and restaurants in the country are concentrated in Baku, the State Statistics Committee told Turan.

Last year 1,375 new business entities, whose main activity is catering, appeared in Baku. Thus, for the year the number of cafes and restaurants increased by at least 33%. For comparison, in the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic statistics have not changed. The NAR has only 762 catering facilities. The NAR, where according to local residents, economic freedom is restricted, since 2007 only 127 new cafes and restaurants have opened. In Baku over this period at least 2,300 public catering facilities were built.

The total one-time capacity of catering facilities in the country at the beginning of 2015 was more than 0.5 million people. This is 32.9% more than in 2013. Baku accounted for 56.3% (283.8 thousand)  of the seats.

According to the State Statistics Committee, in 2014 the revenue disclosed at the catering facilities was close to 1 billion manats, increasing by 156 million manats or 19.5%. The cash turnover of food establishments in Baku totaled 627 million manats, 25.7% more than in 2013.

It should be noted that in Azerbaijan people usually do not request a cashier's check in eating places. At the request of the bill, the waiter usually gives a bill written on paper. Therefore, experts suggest at least double the figure should be made public. At the same time the official turnover of the sector increased by 9 times since 2007. ---- 08B