Over 2,000 Jobs Will Be Cut At Starbucks Middle East Franchise AlShaya

Gulf retail giant AlShaya Group, which owns the rights to operate Starbucks in the Middle East, plans to lay off over 2,000 people as the business suffers from consumer boycotts linked to the Gaza war, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, the cuts, which began on Sunday, amount to about 4% of AlShaya's total workforce of almost 50,000 people and are mostly concentrated in its Starbucks franchises in the Middle East and North Africa.

"As a result of the continually challenging trading conditions over the last six months, we have taken the sad and very difficult decision to reduce the number of colleagues in our Starbucks MENA stores," Reuters reported citing a statement from Al Shaya.

AlShaya said it would support colleagues leaving the business and also thank them for their contributions.

Established in 1890 in Kuwait, AlShaya is one of the biggest retail franchisees in the region with rights to operate businesses for popular Western brands including The Cheesecake Factory and Shake Shack. It has owned the rights to operate Starbucks coffee shops in the Middle East since 1999. The Starbucks unit runs around 2,000 outlets in 13 countries, across the Middle East and North Africa, and central Asia.

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