It all started with four stores
Alsea started with four Starbucks stores in 2002. For the first of them, a “highly traveled” location was sought and for this reason it chose Paseo de la Reforma, a 14-kilometer avenue that houses some iconic venues such as the National Auditorium, the Mexican Stock Exchange and the Torre Mayor. But Alsea chose a location that was right next to the United States embassy, the country of origin of the siren brand.
The deployment of branches was exponential, reaching 300 in 2010 and 520 in 2015. In August 2017, Alsea opened its first store in Tlaxcala, the last state that was missing to be able to cover the 32 entities of the country.
That same year, the company set itself the goal of operating 1,000 stores in the Mexican market by 2022, and by 2019 it had already reached 75% of the goal. But the 2020 pandemic changed the entire landscape.
That year Alsea closed three Starbucks permanently. Despite this, since the coffee shops remained closed for months, the brand remained the leader in the segment, with a 57% market share at the end of 2020, above other local players such as Café Punta del Cielo and Cielito Querido Café. , according to data from the analysis firm Statista.
“Starbucks continues to be a brand that has managed to adapt, even better than expected, to new sales trends,” said Alsea in its financial report for the second quarter of this year.
A profitable brand
The segment of cafeterias in Mexico is very competitive and with growth opportunity. The consulting firm Statista estimates that in 2020 it reached a market value of 512.3 million dollars and will increase to 828 million dollars in 2023.
Starbucks was consolidated at the end of the second quarter of this year as the brand with the best performance for Alsea, with growth in same-store sales of 52.7%, compared to the second quarter of 2019 and 34.8% compared to the same period of 2021, according to with the data of the financial report of the company.
The chain of cafeterias contributed 34% of the total sales of the second quarter of the company, which amounted to 16,939 million pesos.
For analysts, one of the successes of the brand is its loyalty program, which now, in addition to accumulating points, which with the growth of home deliveries, allows ordering from the same platform.
“We are very excited about the loyalty programs, which are strategic pillars of the brand,” added Torrado, without disclosing how many clients are currently integrated into the program.
This year, Cafe de la Sirena plans to resume its expansion strategy, with an investment of 4,500 million pesos to open 200 new branches in the country by 2026.