Letting go is never easy

We’ve been in business for 17 years, and this is the toughest year we’ve had so far,” says Christine Assouad Sfeir, CEO of Dunkin’ Donuts in Lebanon, which saw its first local closures — lowering its total franchises from 30 to 25. With a slew of landmark closures — both Krispy Kreme and Hard Rock Cafe exited the market last year — the situation is turning bleak for Lebanon’s food and beverage (F&B) industry. Entrepreneurs such as Sfeir have known successes. After bringing Dunkin’ Donuts to Lebanon in 1998 and expanding the franchise, she is still clinging to the Lebanese market. But for the past couple of years, with fierce competition, increasing fixed costs and a smoking ban all compounding a precarious political and security situation, Lebanon’s F&B industry is seeing a serious decline, prompting alarm bells in the upper echelons of management. Hitting a new low Lebanon’s economy has