Visitors take a break at Starbucks Coffee at the Forbidden City on Sept. 6, 2005, in Beijing, China. (Photo : Getty Images)
Although China is in the middle of a transition, the Seattle-based company Starbucks will continue with its planned expansion in China. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz shares that the company plans to open 500 more outlets in the Asian giant over the next five years.
The 500 would add to the existing 2,000 Starbucks stores opened in China over 17 years. Of the 17 years, the coffee chain enjoyed 10 consecutive years of positive comparable store sales, notes the CEO, reports CNBC.
At the same time, Schultz also announced that beginning January 2016, all full-time baristas and shift supervisors who had worked for Starbucks China for at least half year would get monthly financial assistance. It would be in the form of a housing allowance expected to cover half of the cost of an employee's monthly accommodation expenses as a number of workers of the coffee shop live far away from their workplace.
Starbucks has about 30,000 partners and employees in China. Schultz and other Starbucks officials met about 1,300 of them from Central and Western China in Chengdu on Tuesday at the Starbucks China Partner-Family Forum.
Schultz notes that China is the second-largest market of the coffee chain, next to the U.S., and is its fastest growing global market which represents also the firm's most vital and exciting opportunity. He did not discount the possibility that China could one day surpass the U.S. as its biggest market.
