Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Starbucks Corp. plans to more than double its stores in India in four years, opening the equivalent of one new shop front every three days, it said in a statement on January 9.
The global coffee giant wants to operate 1,000 stores in India by 2028, and the focus will be in so-called tier-2 and tier-3 cities — those outside of its biggest metropolises. It will also expand drive-thrus, airports and 24-hour cafes, and expects its Indian workforce to double to 8,600.
While tea — particularly sugary, milky chai — has long been the hot beverage of choice in India, coffee drinking has grown increasingly popular as aspirational consumers flock to cafes. Along with Starbucks, high-end cafes and farm-to-cup local chains, such as Blue Tokai, have proliferated, selling beverages sourced largely from locally harvested crops.
“Over the past 11 years, the India market has grown to become one of Starbucks fastest-growing markets,” CEO Laxman Narasimhan, who is visiting the country this week, said in the statement. “With a growing middle class, we are proud to help cultivate the evolving coffee culture.”
