There are 225 McDonald's restaurants in Israel. McDonald's says it will buy back all of its outlets from franchisee Alonyal. The timeline has not been announced.
Sales have dropped since the Israel-Hamas war began. There is a boycott due to the fast food chain's perceived support of Israel. McDonald's was criticized after the Israeli franchise gave away thousands of free meals to Israeli soldiers.
McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said in January that the war had "meaningfully impacted" its business. The franchise agreement in Israel is 30 years old. Widespread protests across the Middle East, in Indonesia, and France have affected sales.
“For more than 30 years, Alonyal Limited has been proud to bring the Golden Arches to Israel and serve our communities," Alonyal Limited CEO Omri Padan said Thursday. "We are encouraged by what the future holds."
Joe Sempels, the president of McDonald's International Developmental Licensed Markets, says the chain, famous worldwide for its hamburgers, french fries, and milkshakes, says the chain "remains committed to the Israeli market."
Its CEO, Chris Kempczinski, said in January the company had seen a “meaningful impact” in several markets in the Middle East and some outside the region due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It sounds like the 5,000 employees of the McDonald's restaurants will keep their jobs in the new arrangement.
“McDonald’s remains committed to the Israeli market and to ensuring a positive employee and customer experience in the market going forward,” Jo Sempels, president of international developmental licensed markets, said on Thursday.
After the completion of the transaction in the coming months, McDonald’s will own Alonyal’s restaurants and operations while retaining its employees, according to Omri Padan, CEO and owner of Alonyal.
McDonald's in Scotland is in the mix, too. Reuters reports that McDonald's did not publish a customer notice that was created by an activist group, Art Workers for Palestine Scotland. It congratulated the Israeli military for killing civilians in Gaza The notice had the company's logo on it. It was displayed at McDonald's outlets across Glasgow.
The text on the notice read, “We are proud to say that McDonalds supplies the Israeli military with free meals, especially while the rest of Gaza starves. We simply don’t care.”
The McDonald's Corporation said the poster was not authentic. “We are dismayed by the disinformation and inaccurate reports regarding our position in response to the conflict in the Middle East. McDonald’s Corporation is not funding or supporting any governments involved in this conflict.”
McDonald’s Corporation told Reuters that the poster was not authentic, adding: “We are dismayed by the disinformation and inaccurate reports regarding our position in response to the conflict in the Middle East. McDonald’s Corporation is not funding or supporting any governments involved in this conflict.”
Kempczinski said its bottom line is affected in Muslim countries and areas with large Muslim populations. "We recognize that families in their communities in the region continue to be tragically impacted by the war and our thoughts are with them at this time. Obviously, the place where we're seeing the most pronounced impact is in the Middle East. We are seeing some impact in other Muslim countries like Malaysia, Indonesia."
Pro-Hamas activists have targeted other fast-food companies like Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, and Starbucks.
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