Fast food joints face tough times in Aarhus

New figures reveal the high turnover of eateries in Jutland’s biggest city

The storefronts of fast food places in Aarhus are in a constant state of flux. 

Although there are about the same number of places selling pizza, sandwiches, sushi, grilled food and other fast food that there were back in 2009, only 30 percent of those are the same that were open back then.

Revolving door
At the end of 2009 in Aarhus, 139 companies were registered under the industry code that covers fast food restaurants.

Five years later, in 2014, only 44 of those companies remained, meaning that nearly 100 of Aarhus’s fast food companies from 2009 have closed. Nevertheless, there are 135 fast food places in operation.

“I had an idea that there was a relatively short life among fast food restaurants, but this surprises me," Martin Stabell from Bisnode Credit, Scandinavia's leading provider of credit and business information, told Jylland’s Posten.

“The competition in large cities forces eateries to drive down prices, which ultimately drives many of them out of business.”

Bad risk
The credit industry places the fast food restaurant sector in its highest risk category, which makes it hard for them to get credit. According to Stabell, half of the fast food restaurants that Bisnode has provided credit to are in the red.

READ MORE: Domino's wants a bigger slice of the Danish pie

“I’m surprised that so many fast food restaurants have such a rough time making ends meet,” said Jacob Niebuhr, the head of Danmarks Restauranter  Caféer (DRC). “I think things can be hard overall in the hospitality industry.”

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