Chinese restaurant chain and Italian coffee maker Lavazza are looking to open 1,000 Lavazza cafés in China by 2025, the companies revealed on Thursday. The two groups, which entered into a strategic partnership in 2020, will sink approximately $200 million into this effort as a means of fueling future growth.
In April 2020, Lavazza opened its Shanghai branch, the first store in China as well as the first ever Lavazza flagship store located outside of Italy. Since that moment, Lavazza has grown its presence in China to more than 20 stores, located in cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, and Guangzhou.
Joey Wat, CEO of Yum China, expressed his confidence in Lavazza and his company’s ability to keep growing their partnership: “The recent progress of Lavazza cafés in China has been encouraging and reaffirms our belief that our partnership is well-positioned to capture the significant coffee opportunity in China with accelerated store network development.”
Yum China owns a 65% stake in the joint venture, while Lavazza owns the remaining 35%.
