There is a special beverage developed by Starbucks Korea that you cannot taste at Starbucks stores. The drink made with Andong apples, "Andong Steamed Apple," is sold at 150 small-business cafes nationwide instead of Starbucks stores. It is a "co-prosperity beverage" that Starbucks developed and shared with local small-business cafes through a "cafe industry co-prosperity agreement."
◇ Co-prosperity beverages using materials and supplies from local farms introduced
On the 21st, according to related industry sources, Starbucks signed a three-party co-prosperity agreement in Mar. 2022 with the Korea Commission for Corporate Partnership and the National Cafe Owners Cooperative and introduced co-prosperity beverages. The co-prosperity beverages are made using local specialties. Starbucks develops the recipes, shares the preparation methods with small-business cafes, and supports materials and supplies to help them sell the drinks.
The names of the co-prosperity beverages reflect the region and its specialty products to embody the meaning of co-prosperity with small-business cafes as well as local farms. To date, through seven rounds of co-prosperity beverage handover ceremonies, Starbucks has delivered preparation methods and materials and supplies for about 416,000 servings to roughly 970 small-business cafes. On the 11th, it delivered the seventh co-prosperity beverage, "Andong Steamed Apple," developed using apples from Andong in North Gyeongsang, to 150 small-business cafes.
◇ Goods made by recycling coffee grounds and milk cartons also provided
Cafes use various disposable items, such as single-use cups, straws, and single-use shopping bags. Starbucks is offering various benefits to encourage customers to use reusable items to reduce the use of disposables.
In June, to mark World Environment Month, Starbucks held an eco-friendly event at stores nationwide, giving a "milk carton upcycling notebook" to customers who bought MD (merchandise) products and did not purchase a single-use shopping bag. The giveaway's cover was made using recycled paper containing 30% milk cartons collected on a pilot basis from 58 Starbucks stores in Daejeon since Oct. last year. Starbucks said, "From Feb. last year for one year, Starbucks' paper usage decreased by about 539 tons (t)."
The company is also continuing resource-circulation activities by giving customers who participate in eco-friendly actions such as using reusable cups items such as a "coffee grounds tray" made from coffee grounds collected at stores and a "coffee bean bag upcycling pouch" made by recycling coffee bean bags. On the 10th of every month, it runs the "no single-use cup day" campaign to offer various benefits to customers who order handcrafted beverages with their personal reusable cups. Starbucks said that over the past four years, annual personal cup usage has increased by an average of more than 15% per year.
In addition, since 2015, Starbucks has partnered with Gyeonggi Province to promote consumption of agricultural products and resource recycling, and has been recycling coffee grounds generated at stores into eco-friendly coffee compost and delivering it to our farms. From 2015 to the present, the coffee compost supported to our farms in Boseong, Hadong, Jeju, Goheung, Gochang, and elsewhere totals more than 277,000 sacks. Converted into monetary value, it exceeds 1 billion won.
◇ A portion of store revenue returned to the local community
In 2014, Starbucks introduced a "Community Store" in Daehak-ro, Seoul. It is part of a social contribution program that returns a portion of store revenue to the local community. As of today, the cumulative donations from the Community Store exceed 5.2 billion won. Starbucks Korea said cumulative donations are expected to reach 6 billion won within the year.
A total of 11 Community Stores are currently in operation. For every item sold at a Community Store, 300 won per item is set aside to create a fund. The fund is delivered to partner organizations for each store through various sponsorship activities, including a college student talent development program, improving awareness of disabilities, supporting youth employment activation, supporting descendants of independence patriots, eco-friendly activities, and protecting national heritage.
For example, on the 14th, the entire revenue for August from the Starbucks Dongnimmun Station store and the Hwangudan store was donated as housing support funds for descendants of independence patriots.
In addition, to cooperate in creating jobs for seniors, in Sept. 2019 Starbucks opened the Starbucks Co-prosperity Training Center, a senior barista training center for more than 500 senior cafes nationwide, at the Gunpo Senior Club. The number of senior baristas who completed barista training through the co-prosperity training center reached a cumulative 1,636 as of last year.