Starbucks is about to take its specialty Teavana brand to the world’s second most populous country, hoping to turn India’s increasing consumption of the beverage into profit.
The Seattle-based coffee giant currently works with Tata Global Beverages in India, part of a 50-50 joint venture that runs roughly 75 Starbucks-branded outlets across seven cities, according to the Economic Times. In a statement to media in Mumbai, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz described bringing Teavana to India as “a major, major business opportunity.”
In the first phase of the rollout, Starbucks will offer Teavana, which it acquired in 2012 for approximately $620 million in cash, at its existing stores. The second phase will create standalone Teavana stores. No details were provided on timing.
China, the world’s most populous country with 1.3 billion people, is the largest consumer of tea worldwide (1.6 billion pounds per year). But that doesn’t mean the Chinese love the drink more than people in other countries. Turns out, neither India or China break the top 10 list on a per-capita basis.