Starbucks Israel (Hebrew: ????????) was a coffee chain in Israel, opening in 2001, with six locations in Tel Aviv before closing in 2003.
Video Starbucks Israel
History
Starbucks Coffee International, a subsidiary of Starbucks Coffee Company, partnered with Delek Group of Israel to form the Israeli subsidiary of Starbucks, under the joint venture known is Shalom Coffee Company. The joint venture, formed in 2001, was owned 19.5% by Starbucks and 80.5% by Delek, with Starbucks holding the option to increase their share to 50%.
Delek paid $250,000 for the franchise rights, plus owed 6% of sales to Starbucks.
Plans were for September 1, 2001 to have the first location open in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. Starbucks had hoped to have 20 locations open in Israel within the first year.
Maps Starbucks Israel
Closing
In 2002, within a year of Starbucks Israel opening, Delek was already shopping its stake.
Before its closing, Starbucks had six locations in Tel Aviv, with 120 employees. Additionally they had previously planned on opening a location in Jerusalem but withdrew the plans due to fear of terror attacks. On March 31, 2003, Starbucks announced that they would be closing their stores in Israel.
Starbucks closing caused many controversies over rumors that the stores were closing due to political reasons. Many rumors began circulating on the internet that they were closing as part of an Arab boycott of American businesses in Israel. Based on information put out by Starbucks, no information pointed towards caving into anti-Israel preasure. Bill O'Shea, Starbucks VP of Business Development in Europe, Middle East and Africa, released a letter stating that Starbucks chose to close their Israel locations due to business reasons, not political.
Reemergence attempt
In September 2005 Starbucks hired MAN Properties Real Estate Consultants to explore their options to return to Israel. Starbucks was looking for a managing partner to team up with in Israel for the reemergence.
Boycotts
Starbucks chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, was born to a Jewish family. Despite this, during several calls to boycott, Starbucks stated that neither they nor Schultz personally support the Israeli Government or the Israeli Defence Force. Starbucks also reiterated that they did not close the Israeli locations due to political reasons, but due to market challenges.
In 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2014 when fighting in Israel has worsened, there were several calls to boycott Starbucks for supporting Israel. These calls for boycott of Starbucks stores and products were also based on what has been wrongly claimed, that Starbucks sends part of its profits to the Israeli military, but such allegations are based on a hoax letter attributed to the President, Chairman, and CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz, who supports Israel's right to exist. He is a recipient of several Israeli awards including "The Israel 50th Anniversary Tribute Award" for "playing a key role in promoting a close alliance between the United States and Israel".
The hoax letter claiming that Schultz had donated money to the Israeli military was actually written by an Australian weblogger, Andrew Winkler, who has admitted fabricating the document. Starbucks responded to these claims, widely circulated on the internet, stating that "Neither Chairman Howard Schultz nor Starbucks fund support the Israeli Army. Starbucks is a non-political organization and does not support individual political causes". The protests against Starbucks derived from the Winkler letter were not the first; earlier protests occurred in June 2002 in Cairo, Dubai and Beirut universities in response to Schultz's criticism of Yasser Arafat. Starbucks has been a regular target of activists protesting against Israel's role in the Gaza War over the claims.
Organizations have urged a boycott of Starbucks, accusing Starbucks of serving as an ally of Israeli militarists. Starbucks was forced to close a store in Beirut, Lebanon due to demonstrators shouting anti-Israel slogans and causing customers to flee. Demonstrators hung several banners on the shop's window and used white tape to paste a Star of David over the green-and-white Starbucks sign. They also distributed a letter saying, Schultz "...is one of the pillars of the American Jewish lobby and the owner of the Starbucks," which they said donates money to the Israeli military.
On January 2009, two Starbucks stores in London were the target of vandalism by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who broke windows and reportedly ripped out fittings and equipment after clashes with riot police.
See also
- Culture of Israel
- Israeli cuisine
- Economy of Israel
- List of restaurants in Israel
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments