Starbucks enters China (1999)
Starbucks opened its first Chinese store in Beijing in 1999, entering a tea-drinking market where foreign coffee chains had almost no foothold. Skeptics doubted coffee would catch on at scale.
Early growth was slow, but Starbucks added stores across major cities and trained a generation of Chinese coffee drinkers.
By 2024 Starbucks ran thousands of Chinese stores, while rivals closed the gap — Luckin passed it in China store count by 2023.
This is the mirror of today's story: the chain that conquered China's coffee market is entering Starbucks' home turf, facing an incumbent with deep brand loyalty and a saturated market.
