Starbucks to more than double its staff in China to 30,000 by 2015 as part of its expansion in country

Nevin Barich

SHANGHAI , December 12, 2012 (Bloomberg LP) – Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop chain, will more than double China staff to 30,000 by 2015 as part of its expansion in the world’s second-largest economy.

“The Starbucks business here is in its infancy in terms of development and growth,” John Culver, head of Starbucks in China and Asia Pacific, said in an interview today in the southern Chinese city of Yunnan. Starbucks currently has 12,000 employees in the country.

The Seattle-based coffee chain is boosting headcount as it pushes to more than double local stores to 1,500 by 2015. The Asian nation is set to be its largest market outside the U.S. in two years as it expands to counter slower economic growth in developed markets.

In its China expansion, the cappuccino and latte maker will face pressure from rising costs and wages. The country’s consumer price index rose 2 percent from a year earlier in November.

Business in China is “very healthy” and the coffee chain operator will continue to maintain its margins in the world’s most populous nation, Culver said.

The company will also focus on growing the number of wholly-owned stores in the China and Asia Pacific region and sees new stores being the growth driver next year, Culver said. They will account for two-thirds of the region’s sales growth, an increase from less than a third three to five years ago, he said.

China’s coffee shop market is forecast to surge 55 percent to 4.5 billion yuan ($720 million) in 2015 from 2.9 billion yuan last year, according to data from research company Euromonitor International. The company today opened a support center for local coffee farmers in Yunnan.

China and Asia Pacific revenues rose 23 percent in the fourth quarter to $198 million, Starbucks reported on Nov. 1. This compares with a 9 percent rise in the company’s sales from the Americas.

--Editors: Stephanie Wong, Anjali Cordeiro

To contact the reporter on this story: Liza Lin in Shanghai at llin15@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephanie Wong at swong139@bloomberg.net

* All content is copyrighted by Industry Intelligence, or the original respective author or source. You may not recirculate, redistrubte or publish the analysis and presentation included in the service without Industry Intelligence's prior written consent. Please review our terms of use.