Hungarian restaurants struggle: costs match Europe but revenues lag behind

A new study says tourist traps create competition that squeezes quality restaurants, as foreign visitor numbers fall and most Hungarians cannot afford to eat out regularly.

Across the EU, the number of hospitality venues is falling fastest in Hungary. Between 2021 and 2024 the decline was 6 percent, while 22 member states recorded growth. Looking at the past ten years, the situation is even more dramatic: 18.5 percent of hospitality businesses have disappeared.

According to a recently published study (source in Hungarian) , one reason for the worsening trend is that cheap, poor-quality lángos and goulash bars, geared towards foreign tourists and working with high margins, are pushing quality restaurants out of the market. This segment primarily attracts low-spending visitors, such as stag party tourists, which is problematic for the country’s image as well.

"I dare say that we are the only country in the world where you can get lángos with Greek salad, lángos with beef stew, and I could go on. There is nothing wrong with a simple dish being good. That is not a problem at all. The problem is when we try to serve this simple dish in a way that means it is no longer that dish, and on top of that we try to attach a gastronomic culture to it," said Áron Reményik, author of the study and communications expert at Raconteur Agency.

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