War in Gaza: McDonald’s will buy all franchised restaurants in Israel

US fast food giant McDonald’s on Thursday reached an agreement to buy the Alonyal group, which owns 225 franchised restaurants in Israel that have been hit by calls for a boycott related to the war in the Gaza Strip. Boss and owner of Alonyal Limited Omri Padan “announced that the agreement to sell Alonyal to the McDonald’s group has been signed,” the US group said in a press release. Padan began operations more than 30 years ago, opening its first location in Israel in 1993 and the world’s first kosher McDonald’s in 1995.

The value of the deal, which remains subject to “certain conditions”, was not disclosed and is expected to be completed in the coming months.

Alonyal, whose first licensing agreements with the brand featuring the famous yellow arches date back more than three decades, employs more than 5,000 people. Following the transaction, “the McDonald’s group will own Alonyal’s restaurants and businesses and employees will be retained on equivalent terms,” ​​the press release said. According to the Israeli newspaper Globes, after the deal is completed, McDonald’s will consider selling the restaurants to a new Israeli franchisee.

95% of McDonald’s 40,300 stores worldwide are operated by local franchisees. Fourth-quarter revenue narrowly missed analysts’ expectations, including a 0.7% year-over-year decline in international licensing markets.

Thousands of free meals for Israeli soldiers

The brand became a target when its Israel office announced in November that it was offering thousands of free meals to the Israeli army and deep discounts to soldiers. During the presentation of the group’s 2023 annual results on Feb. 5, management acknowledged that staff turnover had been hit by the conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement, which began in early October. CEO Chris Kempczinski acknowledged “significant impact” in several markets in the Middle East, as well as “other Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.” He also mentioned France, especially in restaurants located in neighborhoods with large Muslim populations, although the country is McDo’s second market after the United States.

Proof of the influence of the #BoycottMcDonalds slogan: franchisee groups in Turkey, Kuwait and Pakistan in particular have issued statements confirming that they have no connection with the Israeli franchise.