A years-long decline has been unfolding in Hungary’s hospitality industry, with an increasing number of pubs, restaurants and pastry shops shutting down across the country. Many venues were unable to reopen after the pandemic, while rising costs and falling customer numbers have continued to place businesses under severe pressure.
According to a recent analysis by Portfolio, more than 14,000 commercial hospitality venues have disappeared in Hungary since 2010. Last year, only around 35,000 operating establishments remained on record, compared to nearly 50,000 previously.
Even well-known Budapest venues are closing
In recent years, several well-known hospitality venues have closed their doors both in Budapest and in the countryside. The Szegedi Halászcsárda on Belgrád Rakpart shut down after 15 years in operation, while other familiar names such as the Most Bisztró, Lehel Íze, Keksz, Roncsbár and Mika Tivadar Kert have also closed. Their cases suggest that the wave of closures is no longer affecting only smaller or lesser-known establishments.
According to data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH), the number of commercial hospitality venues in Budapest fell by a quarter between 2013 and 2024, while nationwide figures dropped from more than 50,000 to around 36,000. The most dramatic decline came during the Covid-19 pandemic, but many businesses were unable to recover afterwards.
Industry insiders increasingly report that customers are spending less than before.
“The number of restaurant-goers with purchasing power is declining. We have often seen lately that customers order one dish fewer. There are fewer guests, and the average spending basket is smaller,” Harmath Csaba, professional director of the Gault&Millau restaurant guide, told G7.
According to Rudolf Semsei, vice-president of the Hungarian Hospitality Industry Association, many guests now order one course less and are also less likely to choose more expensive drinks. The sharpest decline can be seen among bars and pubs. Statistics show that while more than 20,000 drinking establishments operated in Hungary in 2010, their number has now fallen below 10,000.
Restaurants and pastry shops are also struggling
Although pubs have seen the most visible decline, restaurants and pastry shops have felt the changes too. The number of restaurants remained relatively stable before the COVID pandemic, but a faster wave of closures began afterwards.
Several factors lie behind the downturn, including:
- the growing popularity of online food delivery,
- fewer people dining in traditional restaurants,
- severe labour shortages,
- sharply rising energy and ingredient costs.
After the pandemic, many businesses and restaurants went bankrupt, with smaller countryside establishments particularly badly affected. In many towns and villages, declining and ageing populations have also significantly reduced the customer base.
For pastry shops, soaring energy and ingredient prices have been especially damaging. These businesses require extensive refrigeration and baking, while the cost of dairy products, chocolate and other ingredients has risen considerably in recent years. At the same time, traditional confectioneries are increasingly being replaced by modern bakery-café chains.
The spread of online food delivery platforms has also transformed the market. New consumer habits are emerging, with more people preferring to eat at home or order takeaway meals.
Can government support halt the decline?
In January 2026, the previous government announced a six-point action plan worth around HUF 100 billion to support restaurants. Initially, the programme mainly targeted full-service restaurants with hot kitchens, while party shops and cafés were excluded. However, the package was extended to confectioneries in February.
The measures included tax cuts, preferential loans and administrative relief aimed at helping hospitality businesses cope with rising operating costs and wage increases.
The state of the hospitality sector is likely to remain a major challenge for the new government as well. Following the April elections, the Hungarian Hospitality Industry Association stated that the sector expects a stable and predictable business environment and offered professional cooperation to the cabinet led by the Tisza Party.
Current figures, however, suggest that the problems facing the hospitality industry are unlikely to be resolved quickly. It remains unclear how the new government intends to continue the support programmes introduced by the previous administration. Industry organisations nevertheless hope that assistance for the sector will remain on the political agenda, as many businesses continue to face serious difficulties.
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We don’t really have “pubs” here–that’s largely a British thing–so I guess you mean bars.
Well, yeah, what do you expect? It’s increasingly difficult to reach downtown Budapest by car due to the relentless left-globalist war on drivers, and if you do brave the gridlocked traffic and the idiot cyclists and scootards, you have to pay for parking. Businesses, along with the rest of us, are taxed to death. Energy prices are high due to pursuing “green” B.S. instead of nuclear, coal, and fracking. The staff is rude. The ingredients are expensive because Europe produces nothing anymore (garlic from China, FFS!!!). And then you have people, particularly the young, who get “anxiety” at the notion of going out and who can’t tear themselves away from their dumb phones for five seconds: Why sit in a restaurant interacting with real humans when you can stay in, order some garbage, and spend five hours scrolling through mindless 10-second videos?!?
Sad.
Michael, you are absolutely right, many of us visiting last summer, left with the same experience sadly! – many of us live across the ocean and we are happy and excited to go back and visit, but lately we noticed pretty much what you described here. Unfortunately spot on !!
Same nonsense, leave us from your bullshits.
Read silently.
Take the very first flight to wherever, just leave us in peace 😂
Radzs !- you are a fascinating person, and I mean that, in an absolutely derogatory way , also this is a forum for people’s comments and opinions, based on their experiences. that said, you just perfectly proved Michael’s point, on top of mine and my fellow travelers recently past time and experience! – and by the way even Hungarians know they have issues !
Perhaps more feel the crunch everywhere, expensive air fares, expensive hotels, food, and perhaps the wait and see mode as to what develops politically, world wide. Whether flying will at all be safe, with bullets, missiles, drones flying above. A world not as we have know it.
Dear Ms.!. – Definitely, prices are much higher as they used to be, some things almost cost as much as in the United States, and that is just crazy, because you start to wonder how the local people can afford it all. a slice of traditional DOBOS cake is 12 dollars in Downtown Budapest, but this is just a small example. Crazy prices all around for everyone
Michael, after months of reading your posts I’ve had to conclude : You don’t like ANYTHING. Anything at all.
Corollary : Never was there a man for whom death will come as so blessèd a release. Not just for him, but for those around him.
Wishing you joy
Alex Knisely
Dear Alex, unfortunately many of us living overseas, share Michael’s opinion, especially after last summer’s visit to Budapest