By Lucy Craymer and Heather Haddon
At a recent rally in Hong Kong, protesters smashed the glass
front of a Starbucks cafe, dragged some of its chairs into the
street and lounged around in them as they watched the demonstration
unfold.
It was a targeted attack. Another Starbucks in a nearby shopping
complex in the same outlying neighborhood of Tuen Mun was boarded
up, its windows shattered. Stores around the two cafes were
untouched.
The Seattle coffee chain has become a flashpoint for
antigovernment activists in Hong Kong. While the company's scale
has enmeshed it elsewhere in debates about everything from race
relations to gun control, here the problem is with its local
franchisee, Maxim's Group, which protesters say is an apologist for
Beijing.
Across the city, Starbucks Corp. cafes have been spray painted
with profanity and plastered over with posters. A small fire was
lighted outside one outlet in a busy residential neighborhood.
Protesters have called for a boycott. At the University of Hong
Kong, a large poster spoofing the chain's logo by turning it red
and proclaiming "Communists Coffee" was laid down in front of the
entrance Friday to discourage people from going in.
"We don't hate Starbucks, we hate Maxim's," said Chris Chan, who
in mid-September created a petition on Change.org demanding
Starbucks withdraw the Hong Kong company's right to operate its
franchise. The online petition has so far drawn more than 54,000
signatories. The 50-year-old, who works in the construction
industry, said he also tried to contact Starbucks founder Howard
Schultz and Chief Executive Kevin Johnson.
Starbucks declined to comment on the situation in Hong Kong.
Maxim's got in trouble for comments made by the founder's eldest
daughter, 71-year-old Annie Wu Suk-ching, and another prominent
Hong Konger in a speech at the United Nations Human Rights Council
in Geneva.
The offending remarks: that protesters don't represent the city,
and that the police have been justified in using rubber bullets and
tear gas to control the crowds.
Maxim's has said the founder's daughter isn't an employee and
hopes all parties will resolve their differences so the city can
get back to normal. It wouldn't comment further.
The protesters' reaction highlights the risk companies face of
falling on the wrong side of Hong Kong's sharpening political
divide.
Executives across the city are bracing for the worst if one of
their employees, managers or owners expresses an opinion that
manages to offend either side in the standoff.
On the other side, companies face retribution if they seem
insufficiently supportive of Beijing's interests. Hong Kong's
flagship airline, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., replaced its CEO and
chairman, and fired dozens of employees, after some staffers took
part in protests and China reacted by threatening to bar access to
its airspace.
Starbucks, an American brand that has supported liberal causes
in the U.S., has been an unlikely target. There are about 200
Starbucks locations in Hong Kong and neighboring Macau, roughly
double that of local rival Pacific Coffee.
All Starbucks outlets in Hong Kong are operated by Maxim's, a
large food and beverage conglomerate that has been a key broker for
U.S. restaurant chains looking to expand across Asia. Maxim's has
had a relationship with Starbucks for 19 years and operates the
coffee chain's franchise in parts of Southeast Asia. Starbucks,
meanwhile, owns its 4,000 cafes in mainland China.
While Maxim's operates many other restaurant chains and bakeries
in Hong Kong and is the local franchisee for American brands Shake
Shack Inc. and Cheesecake Factory Inc., Starbucks has been a more
prominent target.
"Starbucks-Maxim's is supporting China and not just doing
business," said Mr. Chan, the person who started the petition,
adding that Maxim's large presence in Hong Kong means it would be
hard for protesters to make a significant dent in the group's
revenue. Trying to get the attention of Starbucks's U.S. leadership
and shareholders, on the other hand, seemed more achievable, he
said.
In the U.S., Starbucks has publicly pushed voter registration
and civic duty. It has also drawn controversy by taking public
stands on whether customers can bring guns into its cafes and
whether people can hang out there without buying anything.
Antigovernment protests in Hong Kong, triggered by opposition to
a bill allowing extradition to mainland China, are now wrapping up
their fourth month. The city's government formally pledged to scrap
the bill in September, but protesters have four other demands,
chief among them the establishment of a judge-led commission to
investigate allegations of excessive use of force by the
police.
Protesters have defaced and damaged the property of other
companies seen as too close to Beijing. Chinese banks with branches
in Hong Kong have been spray painted and papered over with
anti-China fliers, and their ATMs have been battered. Meanwhile,
the huge crowds of black-clad protesters move through expensive
shopping districts and malls leaving most stores and displays of
expensive goods like cosmetics and iPhones untouched.
The summer of strife has hit the city's retail sector hard.
Stores are coping with a plunge in shoppers and tourists, subway
disruptions, and early closures to make sure workers can get home
safely before the inevitable weekend protests intensify.
This week, government data showed Hong Kong retail sales fell
23% in August from a year ago, the biggest monthly decline on
record.
On Friday, the two Starbucks cafes that were damaged by
protesters in the Tuen Mun neighborhood were boarded up, and
workers could be seen sweeping up broken glass in one.
A Starbucks outlet at the University of Hong Kong was less busy
than normal, according to patrons. Some people stopped to
photograph the posters and graffiti at its entrance.
Hyunwoo Kim, a 21-year-old international student from South
Korea, was sipping an iced Americano outside.
"I've been drinking coffee from Starbucks for five years," he
said. "It's a habit. I can't just give it up."
University student Hugo, who asked his surname not be used, has
bought a coffee maker online and intends to stick to coffee he
brews at home or buys elsewhere on campus.
"It used to look cool if you were holding a Starbucks," the
21-year-old said, adding that he now considers rival chain
Delifrance as his go-to coffee place. "What I taste from Starbucks
is no longer status but shame."
Write to Lucy Craymer at Lucy.Craymer@wsj.com and Heather Haddon
at heather.haddon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 04, 2019 08:39 ET (12:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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