Starbucks is Coming to South Africa. The Response…

The news that Starbucks will open its first store in South Africa in 2016 has been met with mixed reactions. The well-known coffee shop chain is being brought to South Africa by Taste Holdings, which already has brands like Scooters Pizza and St Elmo’s, and recently introduced the American Dominos Pizza to South Africa, according to media reports.

The first store will open in Johannesburg, says a representative handling the Europe, Middle East and Africa divisions for Starbucks.

According to the company website, Starbucks has over 21,000 stores in over 65 countries. More than half of those are in the United States. The website Statistica says that the number of Starbucks stores worldwide has risen more than threefold since 2003.

David Donde, founder and owner of Truth Coffee, which was recently placed first in a list of the world’s best coffee shops in UK newspaper The Telegraph, said in a radio interview with John Maytham that Starbucks has its place and would teach South Africans a lot of lessons.

“People go to Starbucks because they love the brand,” he said. “People who are influenced by flavour will choose us.”

Donde is one of the first to have brought quality coffee shopping to South Africa, and has been joined by many others over the last few years. Various lists of the best coffee shops in South Africa have been doing the rounds, such as ‘The 10 top coffee shops in Cape Town’, ‘The 10 best Johannesburg coffee shops’ , and ‘15 freakin’ awesome SA coffee shops that will make you give up Wimpy coffee for good’.

Starbucks is pretty late in the game in South Africa – unlike the United States, where it led the coffee shop boom.

All we can say is, welcome to the fray, and may the best beans win.