JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Shares in restaurant and retail group Taste Holdings jumped almost 20 percent on Tuesday after the company said it had signed an exclusive deal with coffee giant Starbucks to develop outlets in South Africa. And the chain’s green-and-white siren logo could be a familiar draw for people visiting Johannesburg from other parts of the world.
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Starbucks, founded in Seattle in 1971, has more 22,000 stores around the world.
Kris Engskov, Starbucks president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said: “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”. It closed 10 company-owned stores.
“They’re going to benchmark South African pricing with world pricing”.
The partnership will create jobs as each Starbucks store opens, along with new positions at the Taste support office in Johannesburg.
“I loved it in Asia and I will most definitely love it here”, said Ritchie, who is also a regular at Truth Coffee.
LONDON-Starbucks Corp. has struck a deal to push into sub-Saharan Africa next year. The companies say their partnership will eventually lead to additional Starbucks stores in South Africa. These include expenditure on training, travel and marketing. Taste CEO Carlo Gonzaga told CNBC Africa that he is unable to comment on which countries he will be taking the brand to on the continent.
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As with Domino’s Pizza and other greenfields operations, Taste will incur one-off costs as it establishes the Starbucks business locally.
