Starbucks Coffee Korea seeks new ventures amid sales slowdown

Starbucks Coffee Korea, which experienced a slowdown in sales growth last year, is seeking new ventures to secure a fresh growth engine.

The company held a board meeting in late March and revised its articles of association to include 65 additional business purposes, according to industry sources.

Among the newly added business purposes are electric vehicle charging services, construction, property development and supply, real estate leasing and management, and the operation of golf courses and ski resorts.

Regarding electric vehicle charging, Starbucks collaborated with Mercedes-Benz Korea to open a charging station at its its The Bukhan riverR outlet in January.

The company has also expanded its business scope to include lunch box and prepared meal manufacturing, wholesale of processed foods related to its existing business, as well as industrial robot manufacturing and biologic agent manufacturing.

Furthermore, various types of franchise businesses have been introduced. As of late March, Starbucks Coffee Korea operated all of its 1,813 stores under direct management.

This initiative aims to explore diverse new businesses in response to the sales growth slowdown.

In the previous year, Starbucks Coffee Korea recorded sales of 2.59 trillion won (US$1.94 billion), representing an 8.7 percent increase yearly.

This growth rate was more than 50 percent lower than the average annual sales growth rate observed from 2012 to 2021.

The company’s operating profits in 2022 decreased by 48.8 percent to 122.4 billion won, with estimated net profits of 99.3 billion won, down 51.7 percent year on year.

The poor performance of the previous year can be partly attributed to the recall of giveaway picnic bags due to the detection of harmful substances.

According to the company, the one-off recall-related expense amounted to 44.4 billion won, which accounted for 38 percent of the decline in its operating profits.