Your weekly round-up of 5 essential coffee industry stories you won’t want to miss...
- Starbucks announces third round of corporate layoffs in 12 months
- Dunkin’ returns to Canada with a new franchise partner
- Greggs returns to the international stage after 18 years
- Phuc Long’s new strategy is paying off in Vietnam
- Two Thai coffee giants square up for market dominance
1. Starbucks to take $400m hit in latest corporate layoff drive
Starbucks has announced a third round of corporate layoffs and support office closures as part of CEO Brian Niccol’s ongoing Back to Starbucks turnaround strategy.
The world’s largest coffee chain first announced plans to cut 1,100 corporate jobs globally in February 2025 – five months after Niccol took the helm – before a further 900 redundancies were announced the following September amid a $1bn US retreat.
Further US corporate positions will be cut, affecting marketing, human resources and supply chain management staff. Starbucks has also announced plans to shutter regional support offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago.
Niccol’s turnaround strategy yielded positive first-quarter results for Starbucks in the US, but how will the latest cuts impact the coffee chain’s recovery?
2. Dunkin’ signs major franchise deal to re-enter Canada with hundreds of stores
US coffee giant Dunkin’ is hoping it will be second time lucky in Canada after signing a master franchise agreement to re-enter the market.
Dunkin’ parent company, Inspire Brands, and Quebec-based licensee Foodtastic want to open hundreds of outlets over the next few years. A first store is expected in late 2026, nearly 10 years after Dunkin’ closed its last remaining Canadian outlet in Montreal.
The Massachusetts-based coffee chain closed more than 200 Canadian outlets in the 1990s and 2000s before finally exiting the market in 2017. Can its new partner revive its fortunes north of the border?
3. Greggs returns to the international stage after 18 years
British holidaymakers returning from a sun-soaked getaway in Tenerife this Summer will be able to get a taste of home before even landing back in the UK – at Greggs’ only international outpost.
Greggs made its international debut in the first quarter of 2003 with stores in Leuven and Antwerp, eventually opening 10 outlets in the country before closing all sites five years later at a loss.
News of Greggs’ pending Tenerife launch comes amid a period of improved trading in the UK, with sales up 7.5% year-on-year during the 19 weeks ended 9 May 2026 at £800m ($108.2m).
Like-for-like sales during the period increased 2.5%, rising to 3.3% since the start of March 2026, which Greggs attributed to new menu items.
4. Supermarket kiosks didn’t work for Vietnam’s Phuc Long. A new strategy is finally delivering for Masan Group
When Vietnamese retail conglomerate Masan Group acquired an initial 20% stake in Phuc Long in May 2021, its growth strategy for the coffee chain was centred on low-cost kiosks deployed across its WinMart supermarket empire.
Despite early success and ambitious goals – which at one point included a target of rolling out 10,000 Phuc Long kiosks – the venture struggled to cut through with customers or deliver on expected returns.
Masan’s decision to pull the plug on the project in the fourth quarter of 2023, a year after investing $100m to increase its stake in Phuc Long to 84%, highlighted just how stark the underperformance had been.
However, having taken time to review, reassess and reposition the coffee chain for growth, Masan is now reaping the rewards of Phuc Long’s resurgence.
5. Thailand’s PunThai Coffee ramps up competition with market leader Café Amazon
World Coffee Portal forecasts that the total Thai branded coffee shop market will grow 6% over the next five years, providing ample opportunity for PunThai to continue narrowing the gap on its domestic rival.
PTG Energy-owned PunThai Coffee opened more than 800 net new outlets last year to reach 2,151 sites – beating its target of 2,000 stores by the year’s end with an average of two new stores a day.
That rate of expansion significantly outpaced Thai market leader Café Amazon, which added 275 net new stores during the same 12-month period. Bangkok-based PunThai has carried that momentum into 2026 – closing the gap on its main rival in East Asia’s third-largest branded coffee shop market.
