Starbucks To Fire 2,000 Employees After The Boycott Campaign Following Israeli Offensive In Gaza (Photo on X Starbucks @Starbucks)

Amid the boycott call against the American Coffee giant Starbucks after the onset of the ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza, the company’s Middle East franchises reportedly decided to lay off around 2000 employees, news agency Reuters reported. The boycott call was started after the US giant faced allegations of aiding Israel”s policies when the latter has been carrying out punishing war crimes in Gaza.

The news agency quoted the Kuwait-based Alshaya Group statement that said, “As a result of the continually challenging trading conditions over the last six months, we have taken the sad and very difficult decision to reduce the number of colleagues in our Starbucks MENA stores.” The group has been the licensed partner for Starbucks in MENA for over 25 years. “We are extremely proud of the business we have built, with over 1,300 coffee shops and 11,000 colleagues,” the company said. However, it has assured that the affected employee will be provided with financial support.

The company started to receive boycott calls after it sued the employee union Starbucks workers united for expressing solidarity with Palestine. An Israeli-based franchise had announced free food for the Israeli soldiers, triggering the boycott call for and protest from other franchises.

Notably, Starbucks had issued a statement denying the accusations that the company provide financial support for Israel, asserting that it has been serving as a non-political group and will remain the same hereafter too. There had been reports of dented sales for the coffee giant company after the massive boycott campaigns faced by the company. In December 2023, the Economic Times reported that Starbucks suffered a loss of 11 billion dollars due to poor sales.