It’s an odd point of pride, perhaps, but Israelis take a strange satisfaction in the fact that their country is the only one where Starbucks, the international coffee giant, failed.
On social media, when the factoid is raised as part of a clever tourism marketing campaign or even an effort to tempt the company to try its luck in the Holy Land a second time,the reactions are fairly universal. 'We don’t want you here,' people seem to say. 'We make better coffee on our own.'
While the fact of Starbucks Israeli failure is well-known, the reasons behind it are less widely understood.
This week, the JPost Podcast brings you a special episode on why the coffee giant failed in Israel and only in Israel. The episode was produced by TLV1.fm, an English-language radio station in Israel that originally aired the episode. You can find more of their stories and subscribe to their podcasts here.