Starbucks announced today the introduction of its fourth and largest Partner-Family Forum programme in China, its benefits plan for staff.

Already present in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, Starbucks' latest plan for Chengdu is proof of the coffee company's territorial ambitions in China. It's been reported that Starbucks intends to double its locations in the country by 2019.

When Starbucks first opened in China in 1999, the company's future seem doomed in a country that has thousands of years of tea-drinking history. However, in just 17 years, Starbucks changed and revolutionised the way the Chinese view and drink coffee.

The first Starbucks Partner-Family Forum was introduced four years ago in China's capital, Beijing. With a focus on family values and the local community, the programme seeks to involve the family in its partners' career and long-term journey with Starbucks.

In Chengdu, the scheme will involve more than a thousand staff members and their families. Benefits for eligible full-time baristas and shift supervisors include a housing allowance subsidy, as well as a sabbatical programme called "Coffee Break", which allows for long-serving employees to take up to 12 months unpaid leave to spend quality time with their family.

"In Asia, the family is a very strong focal point," group president of Starbucks Coffee China/Asia Pacific, John Culver, told Mashable. "Which is why Starbucks places strong values on that."

Since 2006, Starbucks has invested over US$8 million in local communities in the country, most of which went to the Soong Ching Ling Foundation. According to Culver, the company will continue to invest in new community programs and initiatives to make Starbucks "an integral strand in the fabric of Chinese society".

But aside from strengthening its relationships with its partners, Starbucks also had to constantly come up with new innovations to stay relevant in the Chinese market. Which explains why Starbucks' China has its own R&D center in Shanghai to create new food and beverage innovations that cater to the Chinese tastes. In China, Starbucks offers the most extensive menu of Chinese teas and traditional treats such as mooncakes and dragon dumplings.

A photo posted by 郭雪侠 (@love_gxx) on Sep 26, 2015 at 6:34pm PDT

To further enhance Chinese customers' Starbucks experience, the company also set up their own China Design Studio to design a unique space and experience for each store. "Every store in China is different and pays respect to the local community," said Belinda Wong, president of Starbucks China. "We deepen our emotional connection with our customers by delivering stores that are in perfect harmony to a local coffeehouse, whilst still reflecting the aspirational global Starbucks brand and our deep coffee heritage."

A photo posted by Alexis Landry (@aleximesh) on Dec 7, 2015 at 5:20am PST

In Starbucks Chengdu's flagship Taikoo Li store, customers are encouraged to spend more time in the three-storey historical building thanks to its experiential specialty-coffee concept.

Unlike most Starbucks stores in the U.S., the Chinese flagships are designed to invite customers to spend hours in there catching up with friends, working on their own, and also learn more about the coffee-brewing process be it by observing the baristas through the open-kitchen concept, or simply starting a conversation with the staff at the interactive bar.

Most recently, Starbucks partnered up with Alibaba's Tmall to launch its e-flagship store, the first e-gifting platform in China. More than just an e-commerce venture, Starbucks hopes to enable customers to build deeper meaningful relationships with their friends and loved ones, by making it a breeze to buy anyone a cuppa.