https://arab.news/yk8ne
- UK coffee, sandwich chain was to open 40 stores over next decade with $10m investment
- Palestine Solidarity Campaign says decision ‘sends a message to all companies’
LONDON: British coffee and sandwich chain Pret A Manger has canceled a planned investment in Israel, citing unforeseeable circumstances.
Pret was set to launch at least 40 shops in the country over the next decade, the Times of Israel reported.
The chain had a franchise agreement with Tel Aviv-based retailer Fox Group and restaurant operator Yarzin Sella Group.
The former said Pret had activated a force majeure clause — allowing parties to a contract to abandon obligations in the event of extreme and unforeseeable circumstances.
Fox is planning to oppose Pret’s decision and reject the claims behind the force majeure clause.
Israel’s war in Gaza is believed to have played a role in the axed expansion of the chain, which has 697 locations worldwide.
A Pret spokesperson told World Coffee Portal that “significant ongoing travel restrictions” mean that the chain’s teams “have not been able to conduct the checks and training needed” to set up in Israel.
The UK’s Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Monday said the threat of a boycott campaign played a role in the expansion cancelation.
Though the Pret-Fox-Yarzin Sella deal was announced in 2022, PSC has called for a boycott of the chain in the UK since the outbreak of the Gaza war last October.
A PSC press release said investing in Israel “as it conducts a genocide … and operates a system of apartheid” is “unjustifiable and reprehensible.”
It added that Pret is the “latest in a long line of companies withdrawing from, or reversing plans, to invest in Israel.”
Ben Jamal, PSC director, said: “This decision sends a message to all companies — if you provide support for Israel’s apartheid and genocide against Palestinians, you will face the strength of our movement who will boycott your products and protest at your stores.
“Israel has got away with crimes against humanity for too long. The people of the world are holding Israel to account by refusing to let their spending or saving finance war crimes.
“It’s high time our political leaders followed suit by ending arms sales, and financial and diplomatic support to Israel.”