Starbucks to open 100 new UK stores

Starbucks plans to open 100 new cafes across the UK this year, while investing an additional £30m in upgrading existing sites.

It comes as the world's largest coffee chain reported a big jump in sales in the UK for 2022, continuing its recovery from the hit of the pandemic.

The chain has 1,066 UK outlets, around 70% of which are franchises with the remainder owned by the company.

Its UK expansion comes despite inflation - the rate at which prices rise - being near a 40-year-high, pushing up the cost of ingredients for the firm and eating into its profits.

Duncan Moir, president of Starbucks in the UK, Europe and Middle East, said the firm also planned to open 300 new stores in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

However, he said he remained "cautious" about economic environment, and that "like many other businesses" Starbucks had faced challenges including shortages of HGV drivers, rising supplier costs, and shipping delays.

The firm is also struggling with higher energy costs and demands for higher wages from workers.

Hospitality companies across the UK have been putting up pay as they try to tackle a shortage of workers. Pret A Manger recently announced it will be giving its staff their third pay rise in 12 months.

Starbucks said that since the pandemic, its customers' habits had changed and as a result, the firm would seek to increase its number of drive-through branches, and invest in digital capabilities in its stores.

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

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

The firm, which denied it had ever begun a formal sales process, had also been hit hard pandemic restrictions around the world.