108 Danish Restaurants and Cafés Folded in a Quarter

Over 90 days, 108 restaurants and cafés entered bankruptcy or compulsory dissolution. That is about 1.5% of the country's 7,005 active dining venues in a single quarter. Add 32 bar and pub insolvencies, and close to 140 hospitality venues closed in three months.

The numbers

Restaurants and cafés are the second-largest operating sector in the insolvency figures, after the building trades. The quarterly rate of about 1.5% of the active base runs higher than, for example, carpentry at about 1%. Of 2,812 insolvencies in the period, food service ranks among the most exposed industries.

What it means

Hospitality is one of Denmark's most bankruptcy-prone sectors. Thin margins, high staff turnover, and sensitivity to wage, food, and energy costs press on dining venues. The current quarter follows the pattern.

The sector turns over fast. Erhvervsstyrelsen registered 58 new restaurants in the last 30 days, about 58 a month against roughly 36 insolvencies a month. Weak concepts close, and new ones open.

Explore the data on Virkly

• Restaurants and cafés, about 7,000 active firms

Method

The counts cover firms in bankruptcy or compulsory dissolution status whose register status changed within 90 days, by primary industry code. Rates compare against firms in normal operating status. Deleted and anonymised records are excluded. Source: Danish Central Business Register (CVR), queried 3 June 2026.