From Reuters:
Coffee startup Luckin plans to overtake Starbucks in China this year
Chinese coffee startup Luckin is aiming to open 2,500 new stores this year and overtake Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) as the largest coffee chain by number of outlets in the world’s second-biggest economy, it said on Thursday.
The firm, which only officially launched its business at the start of last year, has expanded at breakneck speed, propelled by a focus on technology, delivery, and heavy discounting even at the cost of mounting losses.
“What we want at the moment is scale and speed,” Luckin’s chief marketing officer, Yang Fei, told reporters on Thursday at a presentation in Beijing.
“There’s no point talking about profit,” he said, adding that subsidies to lure in more users would be an important part of the firm’s strategy for the next few years....MORE...
