Starbucks partners with Percassi to launch first Italian store

From:FoodBev

Starbucks will partner with Italian brand and retail developer Percassi to open the chain’s first store in “the home of the espresso”.

The company’s first Italian outlet will open in Milan at the start of next year – 33 years after Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz first visited the city on a trade visit, and was inspired by the coffee culture that he found there.

After opening an initial store, Starbucks will work with Percassi to develop retail stores in cities across Italy, combining local expertise with demonstrated business success to make each store an exciting and unique experience for Italian consumers. Its chosen licensee in the country, Percassi, shares Starbucks’ values and passions and has a proven track record of operating highly successful brand partnerships, the Seattle-based firm said.

The move has been announced 33 years after Howard Schultz was inspired by Italy’s coffee culture.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said: “Starbucks’ history is directly linked to the way the Italians created and executed the perfect shot of espresso. Everything that we’ve done sits on the foundation of those wonderful experiences that many of us have had in Italy, and we’ve aspired to be a respectful steward of that legacy for 45 years. Now we’re going to try, with great humility and respect, to share what we’ve been doing and what we’ve learned through our first retail presence in Italy. Our first store will be designed with painstaking detail and great respect for the Italian people and coffee culture. And my hope is that we will create a sense of pride for our partners – so much so that every partner who sees our store or walks through the doors will say: ‘we got it right’.”

Meanwhile, Percassi president Antonio Percassi acknowledged: “We know that we are going to face a unique challenge with the opening of the first Starbucks store in Italy, the country of coffee, and we are confident that Italian people are ready to live the Starbucks experience, as already occurs in many other markets.”

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