Starbucks Coffee has opened its 100th store in Beijing at the Solana International Business District and launched Starbucks China University.
The Beijing store, which uses the Art Nouveau design concept to draw attention to Starbucks focus on environmental sustainability, will be the first one in China staffed by all Starbucks Coffee Masters and baristas who have completed a rigorous certification process.
Coffee Masters use the manually operated La Marzocco espresso machine to create espresso-based beverages and the Starbucks pour over brew.
The coffee company, which currently operates over 700 stores in China, aims to operate more than 1,500 stores across more than 70 cities by 2015.
Starbucks China president Belinda Wong said: "Beijing is where we started our journey in China, opening our first store in 1999 and we are proud to now operate 100 stores across the city and more than 700 throughout Mainland China."
With various customized methods, including digital and mobile platforms, the Starbucks China University aims to advance the personal and career development of Starbucks partners across the country.
The university will collaborate with professionals from store partners to senior management executives under a 'Partner Professors' initiative and offer training curriculums on retail and related functional training as well as leadership competency.
Starbucks plans to conduct more than 200 different training modules through the end of 2015.
