STARBUCKS
Grand Opening
Ho Chi Minh CIty, Vietnam, 2013
Howard Shultz borrowed a coffee culture from Milan. He put a double tall, nonfat, half-caff extra hot latte on the menu and saw business percolate in 62 countries. Starbucks has even opened a cafe in Vietnam, a top coffee producer with a culture of its own.
“I could imagine Starbucks opening up to a hundred cafes at most in Vietnam in the next 10 years,” said Dang Le Nguyen Vu, a Vietnamese coffee roaster. “But will people in a country with such a low GDP per capita, and a different taste in coffee, really accept Starbucks?”
In the next several years, Starbucks will expand its presence in Asia by nearly 2,500 coffeehouses. Some 1,500 stores will open in China, the company’s single largest market outside the United States.
Photo Courtesy Starbucks Corporation