Global franchises face pressure over Russia

8 March 2022 - A BBC report suggests that pressure is growing on Western food and drink giants to pull out of Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine. McDonald's and Coca-Cola, among others, have been criticised on social media for failing to speak out about the attacks and continuing to operate in the country. Apart from boycott calls on social media, both McDonald's and Pepsi have also been singled out by the boss of New York state's pension fund. Where franchises are locally-owned, either under individual or master franchise agreements, it's a complicated issue - for example, the majority of Starbucks sites in Russia are run by the Kuwait-based Alshaya Group - but McDonald's, which has 847 stores in Russia, owns the majority of them itself.