The US coffee chain is seeking to reach 180 outlets across Malaysia by the end of 2023, with new drive-thru stores set to ‘provide a better on-the-go' experience for customers
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A The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf store in Kota Warisan, Sepang, Malaysia | Photo credit: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Malaysia
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (CBTL) has reached 150 stores in Malaysia with a new drive-thru outlet in the Puchong district of Selangor.
The US coffee chain, which entered the Malaysian market with a store at Kuala Lumpur’s KL Plaza in 1998, said it is committed to expanding its drive-thru network across the country to ‘provide a better on-the-go' experience for customers.
The new store is located at the recently opened IOI Sierra Fresco 'neighbourhood street mall’.
The CBTL said on social media: “We've put our hearts into this project, and we're excited to share our love for coffee with even more people. Our new location is more than just a coffee shop; it's a cultural hub – a place where the community can come together, connect, and enjoy some seriously good coffee.”
In October 2022, CBTL Malaysia’s Head of Marketing & Innovation, Fiona Rodrigues, said the coffee chain would open 40 new outlets across Malaysia in 2023, with at least 15 of the new stores being drive-thru.
CBTL was founded in California in 1963 and operates more than 1,000 stores across nearly 40 countries. CBTL manages company-owned stores in the US, Singapore and Malaysia, alongside franchised outlets across Asia, South America and the Middle East.
The coffee chain was acquired by Filipino fast-food company Jollibee Food Corporation (JFC) for $350m in late 2019.
In March 2023, JFC reported a return to net store expansion for CBTL having opened 23 net new CBTL stores in 2022 to reach 1,071 outlets across 24 countries.
Following successive years in which the Filipino fast-food group closed more CBTL stores than it opened, the coffee chain’s strong outlet growth in JFC’s fourth quarter of last year could indicate a return to pre-pandemic store numbers.
CBTL had a global store count of 1,189 when JFC acquired it in July 2019 and dropped to 1,048 in 2021.