Apparently, Starbucks ♥ China; will open a store there every 15 hours

90

Starbucks, which is based and was originally founded in Seattle, Washington on the West Coast of the United States, apparently has plans to grow in the east. Like, Far East.

China is now Starbucks‘ second largest, and fastest growing, market, and the love affair has only just begun: The chain will be opening a new store in China every 15 hours through 2022.

More details: www.bloomberg.com

Starbucks is banking on Chinese love for American coffee chains, and, with plans to not only grow their market into one larger than in the United States, but to also become China’s fastest-growing foreign food chain, it’s banking on a lot: The latest plan reveals 6,000 stores for the mainland by 2022, which is up from the original 5,000 planned by 2021.

The coffee giant’s international swagger comes on the heels of a $7.2-billion deal with Nestle SA that occurred earlier this month, which gives Starbucks the funds they need for such an aggressive expansion. Around 15% of Starbucks’ revenue ($3.2 billion) came from its China and Asia Pacific markets last year.

The deal also gives Nestle the right to market Starbucks products. This will also expose Starbucks to the Chinese market in ways far beyond the traditional coffee house: Nestle will sell Starbucks-branded packaged coffee products for the first time in Chinese grocery stores, supermarkets, restaurants and catering companies. The two companies will also capitalize on China’s massive agricultural market, with plans to turn coffee beans into a national, and sustainable, agriculture product, through support of local farmers and research and development for benefit of the local economy as well as the nurture of their (ever-expanding) global presence.

Meanwhile, we in Minnesota still enjoy our local chain Caribou Coffee (technically – it’s still based in Minneapolis), which has grown to become the 2nd largest coffee chain in the United States. No plans on the horizon for Caribou to expand into the Chinese market… At least not yet.

Read next: The U.S. is still the world’s largest home for venture capital, but barely