ALMOST 700 employees of the coffee chain Starbucks will lose their jobs on Sunday after the company yesterday announced the closure of 61 of its 84 Australian stores.

Starbucks employees were told of the closures during 28 meetings around the country. They were given little more than 24 hours' notice to attend and were not told the reason for the meetings.

The American company admitted it had struggled in Australia's "very sophisticated coffee culture" and said the announcement was unrelated to its closure of 600 stores in the US this month.

After one 45-minute meeting yesterday, at the Novotel Rockford at Darling Harbour, workers - including those from shops at the Queen Victoria Building, Haymarket and Transport House - said they were told not to talk to the media. Some said they were told this was out of courtesy to employees who did not yet know their future. One said they were told they were bound by confidentiality agreements.

A friend of an employee who learned he had lost his job said: "It's just disgusting the way Starbucks have handled this. They were left in the dark until the last minute. And they won't say anything because they're worried they won't get the [redundancy] money."