The largest cheese store chain in Ukraine suspends operations

The largest specialized chain of cheese stores "Syrne Korolivstvo" (Cheese Kingdom) in Ukraine will suspend operations by the end of 2026. During the full-scale war, the company has lost about 60% of its outlets, faced losses and the destruction of its head office as a result of a russian attack. At the same time, some partner stores will continue to operate.

This is reported by LIGA.net with reference to the network's co-owner Liubov Nikolaieva.

According to the publication, the company plans to suspend operations at the end of 2026. This does not mean the final liquidation of the business: individual franchised stores in the western regions of Ukraine will continue to work.

"Syrne Korolivstvo" has been operating on the Ukrainian market for about 15 years. The chain specialized in the sale of imported cheeses, primarily from the Netherlands and other European countries. The assortment at various times included over 100 types of cheese, as well as wines, sauces, delicacies and gift sets.

One of the features of the business model were specialized stores with tastings and sales consultants, whom the company called "cheese sommeliers". The chain developed both its own outlets and franchised stores.

At the peak of its development, "Syrne Korolivstvo" had 84 stores. However, after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, the number of outlets began to decline.

According to Delo.ua, in June 2025 the chain had 48 stores, including franchised ones. Of those, 19 worked in Kyiv, nine in Odesa, four in Dnipro. Currently, according to LIGA.net, the chain has already lost about 60% of its pre-war scale.

Financial indicators of one of the chain's companies also show a deterioration in results. According to Opendatabot, LLC "Syrne Korolivstvo Ukraina" received UAH 27.88 million in revenue in 2025, compared to UAH 38.45 million a year earlier. The net loss increased from UAH 860 thousand to UAH 8.27 million.

These figures relate to a specific legal entity registered in 2023, not the consolidated financial results of the entire chain together with independent franchisees. Among the co-owners of this company is Liubov Nikolaieva, who owns 20% of the authorized capital.

An additional blow to the company was the destruction of its head office in Kyiv. On June 23, 2025, as a result of a russian drone attack, the building was completely burned down. Along with the office, servers with databases, computer equipment, documentation and part of the inventory were destroyed.

At the time, the company reported that no employees were in the office during the strike. The stores, where about 250 employees worked, continued their operations, but a significant part of operational processes had to be performed manually.

In a comment to Delo.ua, Nikolaieva estimated preliminary material damage from the destruction of the office at at least UAH 4 million. At the same time, she emphasized that it is much more difficult to assess the loss of proprietary software, which the company had developed over many years to automate store management.

"Such a large network cannot be run manually", the co-owner explained at the time.

According to her, the business actually lost an important part of its management infrastructure, which had to be rebuilt from scratch.

After the attack, the company searched for new office space and tried to restore its information systems. However, financial difficulties had arisen even before the destruction of the office: according to published reports, LLC "Syrne Korolivstvo Ukraina" ended both 2023 and 2024 with losses.

In addition to the consequences of the war, specialized cheese retail operates in competition with large grocery chains and Ukrainian producers of artisanal cheeses. LIGA.net also highlights the economic challenges of this trading format, which requires separate logistics for imported products and trained staff.

Currently, the company has not announced a specific date for the possible resumption of the entire network. At the same time, the preservation of some franchised stores means that the "Syrne Korolivstvo" brand will not completely disappear from the Ukrainian market after the suspension of the main business.

Sources: LIGA.net, Delo.ua, Opendatabot