Starbucks announces an exclusive licensed partnership with Taste Holdings for the opening of stores in South Africa, the first in sub‐Saharan Africa
First store will open in Johannesburg in the first half of 2016, with more locations to follow
Johannesburg, South Africa, July 2015 – Starbucks Coffee Company and Taste Holdings today announced a licensed partnership that will see Starbucks stores open across South Africa. For the first time in Sub-Saharan Africa, Starbucks will open full‐format stores bringing the entire range of its food and beverages.
“We are proud to be bringing Starbucks to South Africa next year,” said Kris Engskov, president, Starbucks Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “Working with Taste, our partner, we’re going to deliver a great Starbucks experience. The coffee market here is vibrant and growing fast – we want to be part of that growth, bringing the passion and energy of this remarkable country into the design of our first store and our first barista team. We can’t wait to get started.”
Starbucks operates in about 66 countries with over 22,000 retail stores.
The Starbucks deal includes rights to other African countries, Taste said, without giving specifics.
Starbucks currently sources coffee from nine African countries: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Cameroon, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
“Young people are the key to our success. The majority of our workforce is aged between 17 and 25 so talented youth has always been a priority and we will equip our new partners with the skills necessary to succeed in today’s economy. We look forward to using our partnership to leverage Taste’s strong track record of creating jobs and developing great people,” said Engskov. “Starbucks sources a considerable amount of its global, high‐quality coffee from farms in sub‐Saharan Africa, in partnership with our network of farmer support and agronomy centers in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tanzania. We are proud to be able to offer some of the best African coffees in the world to more customers in the region.”