Starbucks Coffee Thailand has introduced two new lifestyle concept stores in Thailand to strengthen its business here this year.
The first Starbucks drive-through concept store at Porto Chino on Rama II Road recently opened.
Managing director Murray Darling said the US-based coffee company recently opened its first Starbucks drive-through concept store at a two-storey building with 434 square metres of space at Porto Chino on Rama II Road, offering a fast and convenient way to enjoy its coffee.
Starbucks food concept store was also introduced for the first time at Exchange Tower at the Asok intersection. The 110-square-metre Starbucks food cafe{aac} offers the new Starbucks experience with a wide range of foods including pastas, soups, pies and salads. The store is opened daily from 7am-9pm. The target groups are office workers, expats and neighbourhood mall shoppers as well as passers-by.
He said although drive-throughs are familiar in the US, it concept is a novelty in Asia Pacific.
Mr Darling serves customers at the drivethrough launch.
Currently, there are Starbucks drive-through concept stores in the Philippines, Malaysia and Japan, and Starbucks food concept stores in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia.
The introduction of the two new concept stores to the Thai market is aimed at attracting existing customers to visit Starbucks at different times of the day.
The company is set to open 10-15 new Starbucks branches in the current fiscal year ending on Oct 31, compared with 10 new stores opened last fiscal year. The company expects the number of Starbucks outlets in total to reach 154 this year.
Though there have been many new players entering Thailand's coffee market in recent years, business of Starbucks continues to grow and Starbucks Thailand is a major component of Starbucks in Asia Pacific, after Japan and South Korea.
"We are still happy with our strong business performance in the Thai market. Sales of Starbucks year-to-date grew about 20%, higher than our earlier projection," he said.
The factors driving the success of Starbucks are its continued connection with customers, bringing Starbucks experiences to new places and continuing to develop the unique store designs for new customer experiences.