Starbucks Korea, which is operated by Emart, continues to thrive independently from its global headquarters, hitting a major milestone with over 2,000 stores in South Korea. The company is also on track to join the “3 trillion won club,” a designation for companies with annual revenue exceeding 3 trillion won ($2.05 billion).

According to industry sources on Tuesday, Starbucks Korea surpassed 2,000 locations earlier in January 2025, marking 26 years since its first store opened in Seoul in 1999. The company operates 2,001 stores nationwide as of January 16th, 2025, based on an analysis of its official website. It has added more than 100 stores annually since 2011, making Korea the third-largest Starbucks market globally alongside Japan, which has 1,986 stores. The United States leads with 16,941 locations, followed by China with 7,596.

Starbucks Korea is also closing in on record-breaking annual sales. The company’s revenue for the first three quarters of 2024 totaled 2.28 trillion won, up 6.2 percent from the previous year. If fourth-quarter earnings match the 781.1 billion won reported in the same period of 2023, Starbucks Korea will surpass 3 trillion won in annual sales for the first time. It posted record-high revenue of 2.93 trillion won in 2023 but fell just short of the milestone.

No coffee chain has ever entered the 3 trillion won club, a benchmark typically reserved for Korea’s largest food companies. Only about a dozen firms, including CJ CheilJedang, Daesang, Dongwon F&B, Lotte Wellfood, and Ottogi, have reached this threshold.

Industry analysts attribute Starbucks Korea’s rapid growth to its departure from the global headquarters’ operational principles. The company has aggressively marketed limited-edition merchandise, such as a recent collaboration with Warner Bros. featuring Harry Potter-themed items which sold out on launch day. While sales of mugs and tumblers account for less than 10 percent of total revenue, they helped drive foot traffic to stores.

Starbucks Korea has also focused on creating unique store experiences to differentiate itself from lower-cost, takeaway-oriented coffee chains. The company operates 11 “specialty stores” with distinctive features, including its recently opened “The Chuncheon Uiamho R” location near Uiam Lake in Gangwon Province. These specialty stores make up less than 1 percent of its total locations.

The chain has also modified Starbucks’ signature “call my name” system, a hallmark of personalized service. Select locations, particularly large or multi-story stores, have replaced verbal order calls with pager systems since March 2023 and there are currently more than 110 stores using pagers.

Starbucks Korea launched “Buddy Pass,” a subscription service offering a 30 percent discount on handcrafted beverages after 2 p.m., in October 2024, the first such initiative by any Starbucks branch worldwide. The company also introduced delivery through Baemin in April 2024, a shift from its previous stance of only using its in-house delivery service. The company is now considering introducing self-service kiosks as part of its ongoing efforts to enhance customer convenience.

Despite its expansion, profitability remains a concern. Starbucks Korea’s operating profit margin, which hovered around 10 percent until 2021, dropped to 4.7 percent in 2022 and only slightly improved to 4.8 percent in 2023.

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