In the three months ending on July 3, sales at Starbucks’ Chinese locations open at least 13 months dropped 44%.
“China faced its most severe COVID disruption since the onset of the pandemic,” in the quarter, said Belinda Wong, chairman of Starbucks China, during a Tuesday analyst call discussing the results. “Mobility restrictions and lockdowns were implemented faster and eased more slowly under China’s zero-Covid policy,” she said, adding that Shanghai, Starbucks’ largest market, was totally locked down for about two-thirds of the quarter.
Starbucks’ international sales fell 18% in the quarter, dragged down by poor results in China. Discounting the sales drop there, international growth would have been up by double digits, the company said Tuesday.
