Starbucks boycott affects the company and Starbucks Middle East fires 2,000 workers. Starbucks reduced its sales and profit goals for the whole year on Tuesday, following a terrible quarter in which a big drop in customer traffic.
US fast food and coffee chains like KFC, McDonald’s, and Starbucks are still being hit by boycotts over the Gaza war. Their businesses are doing worse than expected financially, and many struggling stores have had to close.
The company said, “Because of the consistently tough business conditions over the last six months of Starbucks boycott, we have made the sad and very difficult decision to reduce the number of workers in our Starbucks MENA stores.”
Starbucks dropped its sales and profit goals for the whole year on Tuesday, after a terrible fiscal first quarter in which there was a big drop in customer traffic. Last quarter, sales at cafes that have been open for at least a year fell 4%. These are called “same-store sales.” According to a poll by FactSet, Wall Street experts had expected a 1% rise.
Starbucks said that a number of things had an effect on its sales. One of them was that people were continuing to avoid its shops because they thought it supported Israel in the war in Gaza. This was mostly felt in the Middle East, but it was also felt in the US and other places. The business says it has nothing to do with politics and doesn’t back the Israeli government or troops.
There are still efforts around the world to stop buying from Starbucks because it supports Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed over 34,500 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
The coffee chain said that its global sales had dropped sharply due to Starbucks boycott, the most since the pandemic. This caused its share price to drop to its lowest level in 21 months. If you compare Starbucks’ net income to this time last year, it dropped 15%, to $772 million.
The company had to lower its profit estimate for the fiscal year 2024 because of global Starbucks boycott campaigns. This is because its cafes are not expected to do well in the near future.
According to CEO Laxman Narasimhan, the company’s results for the quarter do not show the strength of its brand, its abilities, or the possibilities that lie ahead.
Starbucks boycott
The business has been fighting what it calls “ongoing false and misleading information being shared about Starbucks” on the web.
Starbucks sued Workers United in October over a pro-Palestinian post on a union social media account. Workers United has organised workers in at least 370 US Starbucks shops.
Pro-Israel protesters were also upset about the post, so Starbucks said it was trying to get the union to stop using its name and image.
Since the beginning of Israel’s murderous war on Gaza, Starbucks boycott goes on and sales and income have been going down every month.