Coffee Company is taking over Starbucks after its license expired

Coffee Company has replaced Starbucks at the Food Plaza this summer. There is no link with the pro-Palestinian graffiti on its walls of last year, the current manager says. Owner of the Starbucks branch Albron decided not to renew Starbucks’ license.

The replacement has ‘no relationship at all’ with the graffiti sprayed on Starbucks walls by pro-Palestine protesters, explained Josephine Pang, the current manager at the Coffee Company on campus and former assistant manager at the Starbucks. Students had sprayed slogans denunciating the alleged role of Starbucks in the conflict in Gaza, including messages such as ‘Starbucks funds genocide’.

The closure of the Starbucks at Woudestein Campus resulted from the expiration of its franchise agreement. Pang added that this transition was supposed to happen two years ago already, but was delayed for reasons she doesn’t know. The parent company Albron made the choice because they wanted to offer something more ‘modern’ and ‘sustainable’ to the students. Unlike Starbucks, Coffee Company recycles its bread and limits milk waste as much as possible.

The Starbucks at Woudestein Campus isn’t the only location affected. The Starbucks on Tilburg University Campus also did not renew its contract, which expired in June.