Yesterday (March 13), Starbucks announced a plan to build a coffee innovation park in Kunshan Economic and Technological Development Zone. With an initial investment of 130 million U.S. dollars, the innovation park is expected to be the largest manufacturing investment by the world's leading coffee chain outside the United States.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang sent a congratulatory letter to the signing ceremony of the coffee innovation park and said "We welcome enterprises from all over the world to further expand their cooperation with China and better achieve common development."
The innovation park will incorporate the entire supply chain, including import and export of coffee beans, roasting, packaging, warehousing, distribution and training. The construction of a roasting plant will start in the latter half of this year. The facility is projected to be put into operation in the summer of 2022 and will provide fresh high-quality coffee for all stores on the Chinese mainland.
"The current battle against the coronavirus outbreak may have presented temporary challenges, but Starbucks' confidence in China is unwavering and our commitment to the market has never been stronger," said Belinda Wong, Starbucks China chairman and CEO.
"Starbucks has spent the past 20 years sharing its passion for coffee across China," she said, adding that the coffee innovation park will set a blueprint for the future of coffee roasting and supply chain management and further elevate China's coffee industry "while supporting Starbucks' growth in China, with China."
Starbucks has opened more than 4,300 stores on the Chinese mainland, with over 58,000 employees. Currently, there are more than 200 Starbucks stores in Suzhou, ranking the 4th in China (with Shanghai being the first, Beijing the Second and Hangzhou the third). According to Li Yaping, Deputy Party Secretary of the CPC Suzhou Municipal Committee and Mayor of Suzhou, Suzhou kept putting efforts to optimize the business environment, which has provided favorable development space to enterprises. At the beginning of 2020, Conference on Further Opening-up in Suzhou was held to open the door for enterprises around the world. Next, Suzhou will launch business environment (3.0 Ver.) to better serve the enterprises.
