Starbucks plans 5,000 stores in China

Starbucks will more than double its number of locations in China by 2021, increasing the company’s bet on a country that CEO Howard Schultz says eventually could be a bigger market than the US.

The chain will have 5,000 stores in mainland China within five years, up from about 2,300 now, the Seattle-based company said.

Starbucks, which currently gets about 13% of its revenue from the Asia-Pacific region, also is promoting Belinda Wong to chief executive of Starbucks China.

Mr Schultz’s ambition of making Starbucks bigger in China than the US would still be a long way off.

The chain has about 12,900 domestic locations. But third-quarter same-store sales climbed 7% in China, compared with US growth of 4%.

Starbucks also recently began selling a new line of tea drinks across the Asia-Pacific region, and it will open a larger-size roastery store in China next year.

Ms Wong, who joined Starbucks in 2000, will oversee the plans to double the company’s Chinese cafes.

She also will be in charge of digital and e-commerce there, and will continue to report to John Culver, group president of Starbucks global retail.