US fast food brands, including McDonald’s and KFC, are facing a challenging operating environment in the West Asia and some parts of Europe weighed by calls to boycott their brands due to perceived links to Israel amid the conflict in Gaza.
The situation has inflamed tensions in the West Asia that has led to an outpouring of support for Palestinians. Many Muslims in the region changed their consumption habits since the war started, slashing demand for fast food from American retailers.
McDonald’s became a target of boycotts after photos and videos on social media showed its franchised stores in Israel giving meals to the nation’s soldiers following the October 7 attack. After that, the brand’s Saudi Arabia franchisee issued statements expressing sympathy for Palestinians and donated 2 million Saudi riyals ($533,248) to Gaza relief efforts. Franchisees in other countries with large Muslim population followed suit, with several companies issuing public statements to emphasise their political neutrality.
“Everybody got impacted, this is something not many people realised, not just western brands, everybody got impacted by the conflict post October 7,” Brandon Guthrie, co-founder and general partner at Shatranj Capital Partners, said in a podcast with Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Analyst Michael Halen. Still, the impact to McDonald’s and Starbucks was significantly higher as they were more exposed to Egypt, Jordan and Morocco, Guthrie said.
Malaysian operator QSR Brands (M) Holdings Bhd. appealed to its large Muslim consumer base that it has over 18,000 team members in the country, of which, approximately 85 per cent were Muslims.
In Pakistan, local water and soft drink brands at some grocery stores are being given prominent shelf space and preference instead of Coca-Cola and Pepsi, which have been popular drinks in the country for decades. Multiple posters circulated among Pakistani citizens that label large multinational companies, including both the US beverage brands, as Israeli-linked products.
Can maker for Pepsi and Coca-Cola saw its sales drop 11 per cent in the quarter ended March 31 partly due to “dampened domestic demand” from reactions to the West Asia unrest, Pakistan Aluminum Beverage Cans said in its quarterly report.
Much like in Asia and the West Asia, North Africa has also been a stage of boycotts with visible consequences. KFC’s debut store in Algeria was temporarily closed amid nationwide protests in April, according to a report in Arab News.
– Many Muslims in the West Asia have changed their consumption habits
First Published: May 25 2024 | 12:41 AM IST
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