The American fast food giant McDonald's reached an agreement on Thursday to buy the Alonyal group, owner in Israel of 225 franchised restaurants, which are affected by calls for boycott linked to the war in the Gaza Strip. The boss and owner of Alonyal Limited, Omri Padan, “announced that an agreement to sell Alonyal to the McDonald's group had been signed,” the American group said in a press release. Padan launched more than 30 years ago, opening the first outlet in Israel in 1993 and the world's first kosher McDonald's in 1995.
The amount of the transaction, which remains subject to “certain conditions” not detailed and which should be finalized in the coming months, was not disclosed.
Alonyal, whose first licensing agreements with the brand with 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 the restaurants and operations of Alonyal, and the employees will be retained with equivalent conditions", specifies the press release. According to the Israeli newspaper Globes, once the transaction is concluded, McDonald's would consider selling the restaurants to a new Israeli franchisee.
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95% of McDonald's 40,300 stores worldwide are operated by local franchisees. Fourth-quarter revenue narrowly missed analysts' expectations, including a 0.7% like-for-like decline in international licensed markets.
Thousands of free meals for Israeli soldiers
The brand became a target when its franchise in Israel announced in November that it was offering thousands of free meals to the Israeli army and offering big discounts to soldiers. During the presentation of the group's 2023 annual results on February 5, management recognized that turnover was suffering from the conflict in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas, which began at the beginning of October. CEO Chris Kempczinski recognized a “significant impact” on several Middle Eastern markets as well as “in other Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia”. He also mentioned France, particularly in restaurants located in neighborhoods with a large Muslim population, even though the country is the 2nd market for “McDo” after the United States.
Proof of the impact of the #BoycottMcDonalds slogan: groups of franchisees, in Turkey, Kuwait and Pakistan in particular, published statements affirming that they had no link with the Israeli franchise.