December 05, 2023

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[THE INVESTOR] Blue Bottle Coffee, an upscale US coffee chain operator, said on Nov. 7 that it will open its first Korean shop in Seoul in the second quarter of next year.

It said the new cafe will open in Seoul’s eastern Seongsu neighborhood, a trendy hangout spot where young artists and designers renovated existing buildings into art spaces, fine restaurants and cafes.

The move will mark Blue Bottle’s second international launch since it opened its shop in Tokyo in 2015. Blue Bottle said it will directly enter the Korean market as Blue Bottle Coffee Korea.

“We feel very close to our Korean guests, having known them for years in our cafes in the United States and Japan and on social media,” Bryan Meehan, CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee, said in a statement. “Now, Blue Bottle Coffee will no longer be just a tourist destination for them but a part of the fabric of Seoul.”

Founded in 2002, the Oakland-based roaster now has 56 cafes in the US and 10 in Japan. Swiss food giant Nestle bought a 68 percent stake in the company last year.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)