KUALA LUMPUR – McDonald’s Corporation will acquire the company that owns 225 McDonald’s restaurants in Israel amid ongoing global boycotts due to the war in Gaza.
However, McDonald’s did not disclose the terms of the deal with Alonyal. Alonyal has operated McDonald’s restaurants in Israel for more than 30 years.
So far, it has 225 franchised properties with more than 5,000 employees, who will be retained after the sale.
The fast-food chain’s chief executive officer Chris Kempczinski admitted that the impact of the boycott was “meaningful”, singling out Malaysia and Indonesia.
“We recognise 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 that we’re seeing the most pronounced impact is in the Middle East. We are seeing some impact in other Muslim countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.”
This also happened in countries with large Muslim populations, such as France, especially for restaurants in heavily Muslim neighbourhoods, he added.
In its 2023 earnings report in February, McDonald’s said the war in Gaza had affected its financial performance, especially in Muslim-majority regions.
The increased calls for boycott were triggered when the franchise in Israel announced on Instagram that it was giving thousands of free meals to hospitals and troops in the Israel Defence Forces. – April 5, 2024