Starbucks has launched a hiring spree for 400 roles as the cafe chain has been buoyed by the easing of pandemic restrictions.

The company, which was founded in Seattle 50 years ago, said it is recruiting new staff members across the UK in anticipation of a busy summer period.

Positions will be available across almost 200 sites including city-centre, suburban high street and drive-thru locations as it builds its workforce to deal with higher demand.

The company said it did not make any redundancies or take furlough support after the pandemic struck its UK operations.

It said its new hiring plans will primarily fill “natural vacancies” from staff choosing to leave the business who were not replaced while it was strangled by virus curbs.

Starbucks, which currently employs 3,664 staff across the UK, said some roles will also be in drive-thru locations.

The chain expanded its drive-thru and delivery options to meet customer demand as dine-in options were restricted by public health policy.

It said that around 98% of its estate is currently operational.

New jobs have been created at a wide variety of UK towns and cities including Aberdeen, Cardiff, Coventry, Winchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Dundee, Birmingham, Derby and Newcastle.

Alex Rayner, general manager at Starbucks UK, said: “It has been incredibly difficult to be a high-street retailer in the last year as the Covid-19 pandemic has placed operating restrictions on our business which have impacted our profitability dramatically.

“But our priority the entire time has been to keep our people employed, avoid making redundancies in our company-operated stores and be prepared to safely re-open as restrictions ease.

“That’s why I’m really pleased we are now in a position to rebuild our workforce by offering 400 jobs, as we are optimistic about the future of the business.”