Blue Bottle Coffee is ready to enter South Korea’s sizable coffee market, with the opening of their first store in Seoul in spring next year.
According to business insiders, Blue Bottle Coffee has recently been founding a corporate body in Korea, with the former executive director of Nestle Korea nominated as the president.
Currently, U.S. and Japan are the only two countries where customers can enjoy Blue Bottle’s freshly prepared specialty coffee. In October at the World Coffee Leaders Forum, however, Blue Bottle Coffee CEO Bryan Meehan revealed his plan to expand the branch in Asian regions including Korea, in addition to China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Korean people’s heavy caffeine consumption and their high interest in Blue Bottle Coffee, which even made the coffee brand’s Omotesando store one of the hottest tourist spots among Korean tourists to Japan, seem to have paved the way for Blue Bottle to choose Korea as the third country to open their store.
The “Apple brand of the coffee industry” aims at March opening and the location is likely to be Samcheong-dong. Insiders explain that the neighborhood’s tranquil and traditional atmosphere coincides the most with the coffee company’s management philosophy.
By Heewon Kim
