After McDonald’s, Starbucks and Coca-Cola also withdraw from Russia | War Ukraine and Russia

In recent days, many American companies have already announced that they will stop selling in Russia, but McDonald’s has kept quiet for a remarkably long time. There were many messages on social media calling on the American company to leave Russia.

Yum Brands, KFC’s parent company, is boycotting Russia by no longer investing in expansions. Closing local fast food restaurants is “hard to enforce” because they are run by independent franchisees.

Russia was just an important growth market for KFC. Next to China and India, the country was the market with the most new establishments. About a hundred new KFC restaurants opened every year.

Starbucks also stops doing business in Russia. This means that the American coffee chain will no longer supply Starbucks products to the brand’s 130 Russian franchise stores, such as coffee beans or cups with the well-known logo.

Last week, CEO Kevin Johnson emphasized that about 2,000 people in Russia depend on Starbucks for their income, making a sudden departure from the country irresponsible. Now that the war in Ukraine has been going on for almost two weeks, Johnson says he will suspend all activities in Russia. The Starbucks licensee in Russia will support the hundreds of people who are now out of work, Johnson promised in a statement.

Starbucks in Russia mainly earns money from the licenses it sells to open and run a business of the brand. Earlier, the company announced that it would donate all of those proceeds to emergency aid in Ukraine. Starbucks has no branches in that country.

And soft drink giant Coca-Cola will no longer do business in Russia. The American company reports that it sympathizes with “the people suffering the indescribable consequences of the tragic events in Ukraine”. It is not immediately clear what this means in concrete terms for the sale of Coca-Cola and brands such as Fanta in Russia.

PepsiCo has been told that it is suspending all investments and promotional campaigns in Russia. “Now more than ever, as a food company, we need to stay true to the humanitarian aspect of our business,” an internal email read. “That means we have a responsibility to continue to offer our other products in Russia, including daily necessities such as milk and other dairy products, baby food and baby food.”

Also read: Ex-para Jimmy (77) reports to the Ukrainian embassy as a war volunteer: “Yes, I’ll be back. And no, not between four planks” (+)