Meituan adds Starbucks ☕ to its delivery app through team-up

Coffee giant Starbucks has teamed up with Chinese food delivery major Meituan to allow deliveries through the latter’s super app. The partnership expands the US-based firm’s delivery options in China after teaming up with Alibaba’s Ele.me in 2018 to serve as its exclusive delivery partner, Reuters reported.

Starbucks and Meituan will also add a feature that would allow consumers to book coffee tastings and coffee-making classes at Starbucks stores. The coffee chain said that its stores will have unique pages on Meituan by the end of 2022 as part of the partnership.

In 2019, Starbucks added support for mobile ordering in China, a feature that was then exclusive to customers in the country. Its rollout came a year after challenger Luckin Coffee started its own mobile offering service.

Luckin was seen to be the coffee brand to beat Starbucks at its own game in China up until 2020, when it was revealed that its management team committed financial fraud. The firm filed for bankruptcy in the US in February 2021.

See also: The instant rise and fall of Luckin Coffee