by Jenny Zheng
Luckin Coffee (luckin), one of Starbucks’ main rivals in China, announced the appointment of Reinout Schakel as its chief financial officer and chief strategy officer on January 7. Schakel will report to CEO Qian Zhiya.
Schakel has served as an executive director of Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong and has worked for Credit Suisse and PricewaterhouseCoopers for many years. He has over 10 years of experience in private equity, debt financing and mergers and acquisitions.
For the past six years, Schakel has provided consulting services to leading consumer and retail companies in the Asia-Pacific region. He has a deep understanding of the development of the Asian consumer market, especially the long-term growth trends of China’s new retail market.
“I am honored to join the Luckin Coffee management team and experience the fast-growing Chinese coffee market and the charm of new retail. Our strategic goal this year is to become the largest coffee chain in China and continue to provide high-quality, cost-effective, and highly-convenient products to customers,” Schakel said.
Founded in Beijing in October 2017, luckin has opened 2,073 stores in 22 major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. It boasts over 12.54 million customers and sold over 89.68 million cups of coffee by the end of 2018. In December, luckin announced that it raised USD 200 million in a Series-B round of funding, which pushed its post-money valuation to USD 2.2 billion.
Luckin recently said that it aims to open more than 2,500 stores this year. If it succeeds, its 4,500 stores would make it the largest coffee chain in China.
(Top photo from Baidu Images)