The number of Pacific Coffee stores nationwide has reached 16, which will focus on the second and third tier markets.

Pacific Coffee opened its Taigu store in Guangzhou yesterday, bringing the number of Pacific Coffee stores across the country to 16, but compared with the plan to open 50 stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen at the beginning of the year, Pacific Coffee's expansion task is not yet half complete.

Tang Guojiang, CEO of Pacific Coffee, revealed in an interview with China Business Daily that Pacific Coffee stores will be on the market in the next three and a half months, and the target for the whole year can be achieved as scheduled.

According to public data from the Beijing Coffee Industry Association, China's coffee consumption is growing at an annual rate of about 15%, much higher than the global rate of 2%. According to the average level of the international coffee consumption market, the consumption of coffee in mainland China is about 1 trillion yuan, but at present, the annual sales of coffee is only 70 billion yuan.

China's coffee market is facing a blowout, and Qiu Zibao, director of operations for COSTA, a British coffee chain, publicly announced earlier this year that it would open 250 new stores across the country in the next three years. In July, John Calver, president of Starbucks Coffee International, also said that the number of stores in mainland China would increase to 1500 by 2015.

Compared with chain coffee giants Starbucks and COSTA, Pacific Coffee has low brand awareness in the mainland. In the Hong Kong market, Pacific Coffee is on a par with Starbucks, which currently has 110 stores in Hong Kong and 105 Pacific Coffee, Mr Tang said. In mainland China, Pacific Coffee will accelerate its expansion next year after completing its goal of adding 50 stores this year, but the focus will shift to second-and third-tier cities.

(responsible Editor: Leo)