Tuesday, July 29th, 2014
SEOUL, KOREA - Lee Seock-koo, president and chief executive of Starbucks Korea, said on July 28, "The specialty coffee market is expected to grow more than 10 percent this year too. Starbucks will make another two-digit growth as well."
He said this at the new Famille Park store near Central City in Banpo-dong, southern Seoul, in a press conference celebrating the 15th anniversary of Starbucks Korea. "Since opening its first location in 1999, Starbucks has kept growing for the past 15 years, with 680 stores in 62 cities nationwide," Lee said.
Last year Starbucks posted sales revenue of 482 billion won with 599 locations, up 24 percent from the previous year's 391 billion won with 477 stores. For the past six months of this year, the store number has increased to 680, up about 13 percent.
Lee added, "According to predictions by AC Nielsen, Korea's specialty coffee market grew more than 30 percent a year only a few years ago. This year it is likely to make more than a 10-percent growth, with at least one-digit growth until 2020."
He also said, "The number of Starbucks Reserve stores, the upscale coffee shops, will be increased to 60 next year from current seven. Beginning in the fourth quarter, we will try to launch new varieties of coffee such as 'Single Origin' and 'Medium Roasting' in addition to currently available Dark Roasting coffees."