Starbucks is conquering the Land of Espresso via Milan, let’s hope they have a better luck than Dominos Pizza and Pizza Hut.
Starbucks, after 47 years of expansion, has finally decided to put a foot in Italy, the heart and soul of coffee making, the land of ‘Espresso’. The country where espresso and cappuccino have been invented, like the rest of the world, will get a taste of the American style brewed coffee.
On September 7 of 2018 Starbucks has opened its first shop in the heart of the capital Italian city of fashion, Milan, famous for its coffee and Pizza. The very famous International American Company with a bold and daring move started its competition in the local Italian market with the opening of a high-end Starbucks located within a walking distance from the landmark La Scala opera house. The former post office in Piazza Cordusio has turned to a ‘Starbucks Reserve Roastery”, which is third of its kind for The company, with a 30 feet long bar. And as described by an unofficial guide to the Starbucks Roastery web site:
“It is a place where you can experience coffee from the un-roasted bean to your cup of coffee. You can watch it being roasted. You’ll see the burlap sacks it comes in. You can watch it being loaded into the green coffee loading pit. You can buy it scooped at the coffee scoop bar. You can experience your coffee as a pour over, Siphon brewed, Clover-brewed, a shot of espresso, espresso beverages, and more.”
The shop will not be like most Starbucks already familiar ones rather it will be a premium shop in which coffee will be sold in small batches. Food by Italian baker Rocco Princi will also be offered as part of the Italian experience. This new venture by Starbucks will allow the company to pave a way into expanding even further in Italy within the upcoming years. Percassi, partnering company of Starbucks has stated in 2017 that “We are aiming to open 200 to 300 sales points across Italy, we think that there’s a place for it in the market,” where the company hopes for a successful launch in Milan which will be followed by opening another store in Rome. “If the market responds well” the company will conquer Italy with its coffee like Hannibal almost did with Rome.
To Italians, coffee is a sacred and important part of their daily routine (more like ritual) and Starbucks to them is not real coffee. But as countermeasures to the Italian skepticism the company has removed some of its products as show of respect to the coffee culture over there. So there will be no serving of Frappuccinos at the store. To appeal even more customers other than the coffee and baking there will be a ice-cream and pizza.
Of course Starbucks who is nowadays compared to fast food chains such as McDonald and Burger King is not the first to pierce through the country’s tradition and succeed. Dominos Pizza and Pizza Hut are the best examples of how Starbucks might survive and even thrive in the Italian culture against all odds.
After all the founder of The Starbucks we all know and love Howard Schultz, got inspired by Milan itself and created coffee shops in the image of the café.
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