Starbucks to open 100 new UK stores this year buoyed by robust 2022 sales

Starbucks is opening 100 new stores while investing millions of pounds in upgrading existing ones across the UK this year due to a big jump in sales in 2022.

Starbucks, which launched in the UK in 1998, has over 1,000 outlets in the country.

Its UK expansion comes despite inflation being near a 40-year-high.

The new Starbucks stores will be a mixture of company-owned and franchised.

As its customers' habits have changed since the pandemic, Starbucks intends to increase its drive-through branches and invest in its stores’ digital capabilities.

It added that as many people continued to work from home, footfall at cafes in city centers and train stations had been slower to recover, with London being the exception.

The firm also plans to open 300 new stores in the rest of Europe and the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

According to Duncan Moir, Starbucks’ EMEA business head, he is "cautious" about the economic outlook because of the many challenges it faces, including shortages of HGV drivers, rising supplier costs, shipping delays, higher energy bills, and demands for higher wages from staff.

Starbucks reportedly considered selling its UK business last year as it faced rising competition from other chains.