Starbucks plans to more than double its store count in China to more than 2,300 by 2021, overseen by its first Chinese CEO, Belinda Wong. The company will also open Starbucks' first international Roastery and Reserve Tasting Room in Shanghai in 2017 to showcase super-premium coffee beans and brewing methods. Starbucks is looking to assert itself as a major player in an upscale niche market being defined by other cafe chains such as Blue Bottle and Intelligentsia. As we noted last month, Starbucks is also tapping into China's growing appetite for tea drinking with the hope of expanding its global tea sales to $3bn over the next five years.
Starbucks plans to more than double its store count in China to 5,000 by 2021, overseen by its first Chinese CEO, Belinda Wong. The company will also open Starbucks' first international Roastery and Reserve Tasting Room in Shanghai in 2017 to showcase super-premium coffee beans and brewing methods. Starbucks is looking to assert itself as a major player in an upscale niche market being defined by other cafe chains such as Blue Bottle and Intelligentsia. As we noted last month, Starbucks is also tapping into China's growing appetite for tea drinking with the hope of expanding its global tea sales to $3bn over the next five years.