Starbucks to open first shop in South Africa next month

[March 03, 2016]  JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Starbucks will open its first store in South Africa next month in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Rosebank, the coffee giant's local licensee Taste Holdings said on Thursday.

Starbucks announced in July last year it would enter African markets for the first time in 2016. Its second store is due to be opened late-April in the Mall of Africa, around 25 km north of downtown Johannesburg.

"By the end of the next two years we will have opened about 12 to 15 outlets," Taste Holdings Chief Executive Carlo Gonzaga told Reuters.

Taste, which is also the master franchisee of Dominos Pizza in South Africa, holds the local licence for Starbucks and has the right of first refusal in several other African markets.

"We think the South African market can, right now, take about 150 Starbucks stores," said Gonzaga, but added that Taste is in no rush and will expand the store network gradually.

(Reporting by TJ Strydom; Editing by Joe Brock)

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