Starbucks Is Growing Again in Brazil After a Messy Collapse

Consumer

Starbucks Brazil is back in growth mode, opening cafes again after a painful few years in which its local operator went bust and dozens of stores closed. For a country that lives on coffee, the chain’s presence is still surprisingly small.

The plan is to add around thirty stores this year, a roughly one-third jump in the national footprint. The focus is on high-traffic cities such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Curitiba.

How Starbucks Brazil got here

The recent past was rough. The chain’s former Brazilian partner, a group called SouthRock, ran up heavy debts during the pandemic and filed for bankruptcy at the end of two thousand twenty-three.

The fallout was visible on the street. SouthRock began shutting stores, and the network shrank from a peak of nearly two hundred outlets to little more than a hundred.

A new owner then stepped in. Zamp, the group that runs Burger King in Brazil and is backed by the Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala, bought the rights to operate Starbucks and set about stabilizing the business.

The price tag was modest. Zamp paid roughly $20m for the brand rights, a small sum that reflected how much the local operation had shrunk during the crisis.

Zamp brings scale and patience. It already runs more than nine hundred Burger King outlets in Brazil and has deep-pocketed backing, which gives Starbucks a steadier base than it had under the previous partner.

A coffee giant in a coffee country

The oddity is hard to miss. Brazil grows more coffee than any nation on earth, yet it has only about a hundred and twelve Starbucks stores, a rounding error next to other large markets.

The gap is stark in comparison. Mexico has more than eight hundred and fifty Starbucks outlets and South Korea well over a thousand, dwarfing Brazil despite its far larger population.

Local habits explain much of it. Brazilians drink their coffee strong, cheap and often, at home or at a padaria bakery, which leaves less obvious room for a premium foreign chain.

Price is a real barrier. A Starbucks latte can cost several times what a strong cafezinho fetches at a corner counter, a gap that matters in a country where incomes are stretched.

Yet the opportunity is what draws the chain. A young, urban middle class and a growing taste for specialty coffee are exactly the trends Starbucks is betting will widen its niche over time.

What it means on the ground

For a foreign resident, the practical read is simple. Expect to find more Starbucks in the big cities and their airports, the places where visitors and better-off locals already look for a familiar cup of coffee.

The operator has a bigger dream. Zamp has spoken of eventually growing the brand toward a thousand stores in Brazil over time, though that remains a distant ambition rather than a firm timetable.

There is a wider signal for investors. The steady reopening suggests confidence in Brazilian consumer spending, even with high interest rates squeezing household budgets.

The store format is evolving too. Zamp is experimenting with different sizes, from full cafes to smaller airport kiosks, to find the layouts that work in a price-sensitive market.

The brand also fits a travel pattern. Airports and shopping malls, where visitors and commuters pass through, are natural anchors for a chain still building recognition among everyday Brazilians.

Whether Brazil takes to it is another matter. Winning over a nation of committed coffee drinkers is a tall order, and this expansion is the first real test of the brand after its stumble under the previous operator.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Starbucks Brazil stores are there?

Brazil has around one hundred and twelve Starbucks stores, a small figure next to Mexico’s more than eight hundred and fifty. The chain plans to open roughly thirty more in 2026, focused on large cities and airports.

Who runs Starbucks Brazil now?

Starbucks in Brazil is operated by Zamp, the group that runs Burger King in the country and is backed by the Abu Dhabi fund Mubadala. Zamp took over after the previous operator, SouthRock, went bankrupt at the end of 2023.

Why is Starbucks so small in Brazil?

Despite Brazil being the world’s top coffee grower, locals tend to drink coffee cheaply at home or in bakeries, leaving less room for a premium chain. A bankruptcy at the former operator also shrank the network sharply before the current recovery.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error