Kuala Lumpur, April 30 (EFECOM).- The KFC franchise in Malaysia reported the closure of restaurants in the country for economic reasons, a day following a local media stated that it had had to close more than 100 stores due to a boycott due to the supposed closeness of the American brand to Israel.
QSR Brands, the Malaysian company that runs the American fast food chain in Malaysia, said in a statement released late Monday that it has decided to temporarily close some restaurants, without mentioning a number, due to rising costs amid “conditions difficult economic conditions.
The company specified that it will focus on the management of more profitable restaurants and that it has offered the affected employees to be transferred to other locations.
Chinese-Malaysian outlet Nanyang Siang Pau reported over the weekend that QSR Brands had to close 108 restaurants amid Malaysia’s boycott of some businesses in connection with Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
This campaign sparked a legal dispute in December between the McDonald’s restaurant franchise in Malaysia and the pro-Palestinian NGO Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), although the company withdrew the complaint in March.
Some Western brands in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country historically supportive of the Palestinian cause, have been the target of boycott campaigns over their ties to Israel and the war in the Middle East.
More than 34,000 people have died in Gaza due to Israel’s offensive in response to the attacks by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas once morest Israeli territory on October 7, which left some 1,200 dead. EFECOM
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