Kiev’s Milk Bar restaurant used to cost £12 per meal, but now it produces 500 meals a day for free to feed the citizens of the Ukrainian capital.
The restaurant has not been able to pay its staff since February, but 20 people still work there.
“We’re all just thinking about the people and the community right now,” said bakery owner Anna Kozachenko.
Hers is just one of the food companies stepping up to help Ukrainians after the Russian invasion.
“I don’t even think about the financial losses,” Ms. Kozachenko said.
The employees who stayed with the company are now working around the clock to deliver meals to the elderly and refugees from the occupied territories outside of Kyiv.
Major caterers have provided the restaurant with food for free, promising to do so “as long as it is needed”. The landlord has also suspended the rent for the restaurant.
The Milk Bar is one of more than 450 restaurants that have transformed their business to feed everyone in need after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. People who take refuge in bunkers, elderly citizens who cannot leave their homes and those who fight against the Russians are all supported by the companies.
A larger company, LaFamiglia Group, which has 14 restaurants, a catering business and 17 food markets, has now also switched to providing shelter, food and medical care.
The company, which had tens of millions in sales last year, now offers more than 8,000 snacks and sandwiches and more than 5,000 hot meals daily for free.
Owner Mikhail Beylin said the BBC suppliers would provide many groceries free of charge and sell the rest at cost without making a profit from it.
The restaurant bears any additional costs from its own resources.
Mr Beylin said the war has made getting food to and from the restaurant “complicated” and there are fears they could run out of supplies.
“Now the supply we receive is enough to meet demand and create a small reserve of product in case we face a shortage,” he added.
“Our cooks stay in the middle of military zones to feed our people.”
“This is not the time to worry about finances, profits and margins, now is the time for action demanded by all to stop the further destruction of lives.”
Pizzeria owner Ruslan Buriak has 60 volunteers working around the clock in his kitchens in the central-eastern city of Dnipro, which was the target of Russian airstrikes for the first time last week.
The kitchens produce around 1,000 meals a day for the local population, relying on free pasta, oils and meats from local farmers. Like the milk bar, Mr. Buriak also delivers to the elderly and people who cannot leave their homes.
“We have about a week’s supply left and the volunteer cooks need money to take buses to work,” explained Mr. Buriak.
“We’re like family now and everyone is doing their best to help.”
One of Ukraine’s largest food producers, MHP, which grows and distributes wheat, is helping restaurants keep going and feeding people during the conflict, including Mr Beylin’s chain. It employs more than 30,000 people across Ukraine.
It has been delivering food to isolated communities across the country, but the invasion means some parts of Ukraine where it would normally sow wheat are now inaccessible.
“Of course, if this continues, our seeding will decrease rapidly, especially if it (the Russian army) advances to the west of the country, where a large part of our operations are based,” said MHP chief Dr. BBC’s John Rich.
This would have repercussions far beyond Ukraine. Around 30% of the world’s wheat comes from Ukraine and Russia. Most of Ukraine’s wheat and corn exports last year went to the Middle East or Africa – and supply disruptions could affect availability in those areas.
If grain production is hampered, analysts have warned that supply could struggle to keep up with demand, meaning wheat prices could rise globally.
In the meantime, the government is doing what it can to help financially. It has restarted support programs set up to help restaurants deal with the Covid pandemic.
dr Tymofii Mylovanov, president of the Kyiv School of Economics, expects the government to take on a bigger role in supporting the country’s firms as they shift from sales and profits to trying to help the country’s people survive the war.
“Many restaurants are now running out of money, but the government is providing aid and coordinating people’s demand as we move further into a war economy,” said Dr. Mylovanov.
In the meantime, MHP has also called for donations to its charitable foundation so that it can continue to distribute food.
Back in Dnipro, Mr Buriak’s landlord has also stopped rent, water and electricity bills to support the pizzeria and people continue to give their time for free.
Mr. Buriak plans to feed Dnipro as long as supplies last.
“We will continue until the end of this situation, but no one knows how long that will take.”
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