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Starbucks promotes Molly Liu to sole chief executive officer of China divisionStarbucks promotes Molly Liu to sole chief executive officer of China division

Former co-CEO Belinda Wong will remain chair for the country

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

September 25, 2024

1 Min Read
starbucks
A Starbucks storefront

Starbucks has promoted Molly Liu to be the sole chief executive officer of its China division. Her former co-CEO, Belinda Wong, will stay on as chair for China, the Seattle-based company said.

It is the second executive change that new CEO Brian Niccol has made since he joined the company on Sept. 9. Last week Starbucks said its CEO for North America, Michael Conway, was retiring from that position, to which he had just been appointed in March.

Conway will not be replaced. Instead, Starbucks is searching for a global chief brand officer in charge of areas such as product development and marketing.

“Over the past year, we have significantly up-leveled our innovation engine,” Liu said in a statement. “Our operational muscle has never been stronger, our brand power remains second to none and partner retention is at an all-time high.” 

Before her appointment as co-CEO a year ago, Liu had been Starbucks China’s chief operating officer since 2021, and prior to that was its vice president of digital ventures.

There are 7,300 Starbucks locations in China, making it its second largest market.

Investors and other Wall Street watchers have been speculating that Starbucks would spin off its China division as sales slump there amid a weakening economy and competition from local coffee chains, something the company has reportedly considered in the past.

Related:New Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol promises to ‘refocus’ brand back to a ‘welcoming coffeehouse’

 

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

 

 

About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality.

Hi is responsible for spotting and reporting on F&B trends across the country for both publications. 

He is the co-host of a podcast, Menu Talk with Pat and Bret, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities, and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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