Starbucks Plans For 150 South Africa Shops

The response to the first Starbucks location in South Africa has compelled the company to scale up its expansion plans — by no small amount.

At the time of the opening of the omnipresent (in the U.S., at least) coffee chain’s first location in Johannesburg last week, Starbucks executives had expressed the company’s intention to open between 12 and 15 more stores in the country over a two-year period, reports The Globe and Mail.

However, that Johannesburg store proved so successful in its first seven days that, on Friday (April 29), Starbucks CEO and Chairman Howard Schultz upgraded that planned number significantly, to 150.

Regarding the impressive turnout of customers at the debut location in South Africa — with some coffee-seekers, notes The Globe and Mail, having driven for two hours for a taste of the Starbucks brand — Schultz told journalists: “I’ve been to many Starbucks openings around the world, and I have never seen a line like this after a week of our opening. We’re off to a fantastic start. The line is very long — almost too long, in a way.”

“I think [the South African] market is going to be larger than we probably thought initially,” he added.

“It has taken us a long time to get here, but now that we’re here … I’m convinced that we will take advantage of the growing middle class,” continued Schultz in remarks shared by The Globe and Mail. “We view the continent as a significant market for growth and development for Starbucks.”

The outlet adds that, in South Africa, Starbucks is offering, more or less, the same lineup of products that it does in other countries, with one addition: the local drink rooibos cappuccino, which is made from South African bush tea leaves.