With solid customer loyalty, especially among women in their 20s and 30s in Korea, Starbucks Coffee Korea raked in 114.4 billion won ($107 million) in operating profit and 1.2 trillion won in sales last year, industry data showed Thursday. 

The US coffeehouse chain opened its first local branch near Ewha Womans University in 1999. It is the first time Starbucks has recorded over 100 billion won in operating profit.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system, Starbucks Korea’s operating profit increased by 25.9 percent from 85.4 billion won a year earlier, while sales went up 33.9 percent on-year from 1 trillion won.

The figures are in stark contrast to those of local coffee chains such as Twosome Place and Angel-in-us Coffee, whose average operating profit and sales are approximately between 10 billion won and 20 billion won, and 100 billion won and 200 billion won, respectively. 

Starbucks Korea is operated as a 50-50 joint venture between retail giant Shinsegae and Starbucks. It currently has 1,140 stores across the country, ranking No. 5 in the world after the US, Canada, China and Japan, in terms of the number of stores. 

Industry sources said Starbucks Korea transmitted 63.1 billion won in royalty payments to its US headquarters last year.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)