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MILAN (Reuters) – Starbucks, the largest coffee chain in the world, will realize the dream of its president on Friday when it opens a high-end café in Milan.
Stills are visible in the new Starbucks Reserve Roastery flagship in downtown Milan, Italy, on September 4, 2018. REUTERS / Stefano Rellandini
The store will be the Seattle-based giant's first foray into the Italian market, the fourth-largest coffee consumer in the world, and 35 years after President Emeritus Howard Schultz's visit to the country.
The venue includes a green scale industrial roaster, marble countertops, brass engravings – and a price that could make many Italians reluctant to make it their usual coffee.
At 1.80 euros ($ 2.09) for a simple espresso, Starbucks (SBUX.O) will charge almost double what Italians pay in their local bars.
"The price reflects the premium experience that we will offer to customers," Starbucks Global Retail President John Culver told Reuters by showing the media in the store, built in an elegant, century-old renovated palace by the company.
"Once in space, our customers will understand exactly what this premium experience will be like."
Coffee chains must rise to the challenge as large sums of money pour into one of the few high-growth areas of the beverage market. Last week, Coca-Cola agreed to buy Costa, the world's second largest coffee chain, while the JAB beverage group seized the UK's Pret A Manger chain in May.
Schultz said he was inspired by the development of Starbucks, which now has nearly 29,000 stores worldwide, during a 1983 tour to Italy where he was struck by the relationships between the baristas and their customers.
As in Seattle and Shanghai, where Starbucks opened its two other high-end Roasteries, the Milan store is designed as a playground for coffee drinkers, offering more than 100 different ways.
The 2,300-square-meter store will also offer cocktails, meeting the Italian aperitivo evening tradition.
Starbucks has announced that it will begin rolling out regular coffees throughout Italy this year, which will bring it closer to the more than 57,000 coffees in Italy.
No other Western country has the same, according to market research provider Euromonitor International.
"The Starbucks model and the economic sustainability of its stores are based on the price of its flagship products – cappuccino, espresso, frappuccino – which is far from the average price in Italian bars," said Marco Eccheli, director of the consulting firm AlixPartners in Italy.
Starbucks will struggle to become a daily choice for Italians, but will likely attract customers looking for a more complete experience, especially young people, he said.
The American group will open four traditional cafés in Milan with its local partner Antonio Percassi by the end of the year.
Federico Castelmare, 55, the barista of a café near the new Starbucks cafe, said his higher price would not allow him to charge more customers.
"I expect my customers to be loyal to me, but tourists will surely go to the roaster."
(1 dollar = 0.8635 euros)
Reportage by Francesca Landini; Editing by Mark Potter
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