REVIEW Scientific supervisor for the final qualifying work of a student at St. Petersburg State University Grudskaya Polina Andreevna _ on the topic "Restaurant business in St. Petersburg in a pandemic: experience of sociological research" Graduation work of Grudskaya Polina Andreevna belongs to the general field of economic sociology of nutrition. This is a fairly new topic of scientific research. Its task is to consider how social factors affect economic ones within the catering industry. It is known that during the pandemic, the catering industry (cafes, restaurants, canteens) suffered the most. A huge number of establishments closed (383 according to the author), but most of them continued their work. But how did entrepreneurs find a way out of this difficult, seemingly hopeless situation? What social resources were involved? All these factors determine the relevance of the work within the framework of economic sociology. The purpose of the study is to analyze changes in the work of the restaurant business in St. Petersburg during the pandemic and, based on the analysis made, to suggest possible directions for its further development. The main theoretical results obtained in the work are as follows: 1. The process of development of public catering and restaurant business both in Russia and abroad is considered. 2. The specifics of the development of the restaurant business in St. Petersburg, starting from the moment of its foundation, are shown. 3. The reasons for the decline in economic activity in the field of catering are identified, the main of which is the decline in real incomes of the population and the purchasing power of St. Petersburg residents since 2014. 4. The factors of the impact of the pandemic on the restaurant business in 2019-2022 are analyzed. It is shown that the middle class suffered the most from the crisis, respectively, and institutions oriented towards it. 5. Identified strategies developed in the restaurant business to overcome the crisis and further development. Most of the restaurateurs decided, despite the forced temporary closures, to keep the team, which turned out to be the right move. Many began to look for other opportunities to sell their product - they switched to delivery. They also tried to negotiate with landlords on installment payments for renting premises (it was precisely those establishments where it was not possible to reach an agreement that closed: 75% of respondents who took part in the survey reported difficulties with landlords). The analysis showed that in addition to the above strategies, restaurateurs pay attention to the need to diversify their business, increase the use of computer and information technologies in the restaurant business, and expand customer focus through social networks. The empirical results of the work are related to a sociological study conducted by the author (in-depth interviews were conducted with restaurateurs - 5 and an online survey, 157 respondents). It was found that the number of deliveries is increasing, and the number and duration of face-to-face visits to food establishments are decreasing, while the average check is also decreasing. 68% of organizations had or implemented a ready-to-eat food delivery service to consumers during the coronavirus outbreak, with a 12% increase in the number of people willing to go to restaurants under strict anti-COVID requirements in autumn compared to 65% in November compared to 53% in May.) The results of the survey showed that by December 2020, the majority of food service establishments (67%) had already implemented a contactless menu by reading a QR code. As measures for the development of the restaurant business in crisis conditions, the following are proposed: an increase in the segment of the delivery of ready-made meals, food products and semi-finished products with the possibility of cooking at home; sale of ready meals and semi-finished products; development of the Dark Kitchen concept (this is a kitchen that prepares food only for delivery); client-oriented projects in social networks: maintenance of pages in social networks; work with bloggers; use of Internet video production or video formats in social networks; SMM promotion of the restaurant. So: • the content of the the final qualifying work corresponds to the theme stated in the title, • the topic stated in the title is almost completely disclosed, • a detailed substantiation of the conclusions is given, scientific novelty is sufficient for such types of qualifying works • of the shortcomings, it is worth noting some negligence in the design of the work The final qualifying work of Grudskaya Polina Andreevna on the topic “Restaurant business in St. Petersburg in a pandemic: the experience of sociological research” meets the requirements for works of this kind and deserves a positive assessment. "__22__" ____ May ________ 2022 Veselov Yury Vitalievich (D.Sc., prof., head of department economic sociology, St. Petersburg State University)