Starbucks, Maxim’s Divorce: Bitter Ending or Sweet Times Ahead? 星巴克与美心闹“离婚”

By newsdoug on June 3, 2011

I read with interest over my morning coffee that Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) and prominent Hong Kong restaurant operator Maxim’s appear to be getting divorced, with the announcement that the former will take sole control of all south China Starbucks shops while the latter will take over all their Hong Kong outlets. (company announcement) I’ll have to do a quick bit of speculation here on what this all means, Starbucks goes it alone in South China as I don’t know many details about this partnership even though I’m quite familiar with the companies, which both have excellent reputations in their home markets. My quick take is that this divorce probably reflects an inability to work well together, as both companies certainly have strong ideas about running a restaurant, especially in China where the cost of a cup of coffee is quite pricey compared with local incomes. At the same time, Maxim’s has never really shown a huge interest in China for its own brands, unlike Starbucks which is building new stores like crazy and just last year announced a major commitment to support local coffee growing in Yunnan province, China’s only natural coffee growing region. So what’s it all mean and who comes out the winner? In this case it could be a win-win, as Maxim’s gets to pull out of a market for which it apparently has little taste and quickly recoup its investment. Starbucks, meantime, gets to take over its China show completely, with both its challenges and rewards. Starbucks has tasted success in China’s big cities, where its stores are usually packed with lounging young professionals relaxing over a cup of daily brew. But whether or not it can replicate that success in less affluent southern cities where its Maxim partnership were concentrated could be more challenging as it seeks out a suitable business mix for these areas.

Bottom line: Starbucks’ buy out of its long-time partner in South China could become a major growth opportunity if it can figure out how to sell pricey drinks to consumers in less affluent cities.

早上喝咖啡的时候看到一条很有意思的新闻，星巴克<SBUX.O>与香港知名餐饮品牌美心似乎正闹“离婚”，双方宣布星巴克收回中国南方所有星巴克店面的全部所有权，而所有香港店面归美心独有。此举意味着什麽我还不是很确定，因为虽然我对这两家在各自本土市场声名卓着的公司很熟悉，但双方合作的细节我并不是很了解。我的第一反应是，两公司“分家”可能反映出两家无法很好地合作，因为双方对於如何经营餐饮企业都各自有着很强烈的见解，尤其是在中国，毕竟这里一杯咖啡的价格相对於当地收入而言相当贵。同时，美心对於在中国大陆拓展自有品牌从未表现出特别大的兴趣，而星巴克正在中国疯狂建立新店面，去年还宣布将大力扶持云南的咖啡种植业。那麽这到底意味着什麽？谁才是赢家？这种情况下，它可能是一种双赢局面，因为美心可以退出自己似乎无甚兴趣的市场，并迅速回收投资。而星巴克可以完全掌控其中国业务，尽管这里是挑战与机遇并存。星巴克在中国大城市已经尝到了胜利甜头，因为那里年轻的职业人士已习惯每天用一杯醇香的星巴克咖啡来放松心情。但是星巴克能否在富裕程度稍逊一筹的那些中国南方城市复制这一成功可能会更有挑战性，毕竟它与美心的合作一直集中在这块地区。

一句话：星巴克在中国南方城市买断其店面可能会成为一个重大成长机遇，前提是它要学会在不那麽富裕的城市向消费者推销其较为昂贵的饮品。