The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Corporate giant Berjaya Food has apparently been taking heavy damage via the Starbucks boycott started by Malaysians last month in relation to the Palestine-Israel war.
Unfortunately, in an effort to mitigate the damage, they’ve apparently set their sights on the Starbucks staff instead. Needless to say, it has left some netizens unhappy, while others are insisting on holding their ground.
Just yesterday (15th November), Berjaya released a report of their net earnings and profits for their first quarter, which ended on 30th September. While the report for Berjaya Food Berhad, or BFood, was mostly positive, despite the lower revenue reported, one sentence in particular caught netizens’ attention.
“Berjaya Starbucks is expected to return to its revenue growth momentum once the challenging market conditions brought about by the recent conflict in the Middle East are back to normality. To mitigate some of the challenging market conditions, the Group is focusing on Cost optimization, Labour/Productivity Management and Effective marketing Strategies over the remaining quarters of the financial year ending 30 June 2024,” the report read.
Or, as one netizen summarized: “Berjaya Food is blaming the boycott aka “challenging market conditions” surrounding Starbucks Malaysia. To deal with the situation, Berjaya Food will look at laying off staff or reducing operating hours in Starbucks stores, among other things.”
A few surmised that the company was likely attempting to preempt the dive in their 4th quarter 2023 earning. As another pointed out: “No company will take losses without a reaction. Especially if they have chain stores nationwide.” Others however, scoffed at the company’s measures. “They survived COVID lockdowns, it’d be a joke if they can’t survive a couple months of boycott,” one said.
Some however, felt it time to rethink the boycott situation. “Many fellow Malaysians will be losing their jobs,” one appealed. “Boycotting has a chain reaction where our people will suffer more than the multinational brand. Open your eyes.” But, others remained staunch in their decision.
One claimed BFood could tank the boycott while another opined there were “better alternatives” to supporting the company’s employees. “It’s essential to balance empathy with practical choices for both consumers and employees,” they added. Another suggested: “It’s probably even a better (response) for the long term if BFood can show solidarity and make a contribution to help Gaza. The margin on a cup of coffee is at least 300%.”
BFood isn’t the first company to settle on dealing with the fallout by going through an internal audit. Fast food chain McDonald’s too was previously spotted trying to cope with the boycott by shortening their operating hours.
But, we can’t deny that it certainly looks like there will be rough times ahead for the Starbucks staff. Hopefully things will change for the better, and soon.
Berjaya’s full report can be found here:
Source: Twitter
