McDonald’s, Starbucks, PepsiCo, and Coca-Cola are temporarily closing locations or stopping the sale of products in Russia due to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to The New York Times.
“In the 30-plus years that McDonald’s has operated in Russia, we’ve become an essential part of the 850 communities in which we operate,” Chris Kempczinski, the company’s chief executive, said in the article. He noted that the company employed 62,000 people in the country.
Other prominent food companies and restaurants have followed. Starbucks said it too was closing all of its locations in Russia, where they are owned and operated by the Kuwaiti conglomerate Alshaya Group. Coca-Cola said it was halting sales there as well.
Mounting pressure has the largest companies taking a stance in a complex scenario. PepsiCo, whose products have been in Russia since the early '70s, said it would no longer sell Pepsi and 7-Up there but would continue to produce dairy and baby food products in the country as a “humanitarian” effort and to keep tens of thousands manufacturing and farm workers employed.
“PepsiCo has been there forever. PepsiCo was there under Nixon,” said Bruce W. Bean, a professor emeritus at Michigan State University’s law school who, as an American lawyer in Russia, worked with companies making investments there.
“Obviously, PepsiCo can walk away from the business,” Bean said. “It will hurt them, but it will hurt the Russians who have picked up the business, the Russians that distribute its product — it hurts them more.” Full Story
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