Starbucks has opened a mega cafe in Bangkok that serves up coffee on tap.
Located in Central World Shopping Plaza, the largest mall in Thailand, the 2,694sqm store underscores Starbucks’ focus on Southeast Asia and China as important growth verticals for its business.
The store boasts two meeting rooms, a co working space and several lounges – encouraging customers to dwell within the cafe.
Local art adorns the walls, while a wooden curved design characterises the interior.An exclusive menu has been designed for the store that includes Starbucks’ draft range, which is tap poured coffee and tea.
Starbucks has a 20 year history in Thailand, having expanded relatively slowly to more than 300 outlets, with plans to have 400 trading by the end of 2019. Its strategy in Thailand has been to position itself as more of a premium player, taking advantage of what it has seen as a gap in the market.
The US-owned coffee giant has been increasing its focus on Asian markets in recent years, earlier this month unveiling a new strategy for China that will see it double its store network there over the next five years. It hopes to have as many as 6000 locations in China by 2023, opening one store every 15 hours.
