Linda Thomas/Starbucks
Starbucks Corp. is bringing its brew to one of coffee’s ancestral homelands, Italy, with its first store planned for Milan in early 2017.
The coffee giant has partnered with Percassi, an Italian company that manages its own portfolio of brands as well as a global network of established brands. The company has played a role in the growth of Italian retail operations for Levi’s, Calvin Klein, Guess and other fashion labels.
Starbucks SBUX, -0.22% said in a Monday release it will open stores in cities across Italy.
‘Everything that we’ve done sits on the foundation of those wonderful experiences many of us have had in Italy, and we’ve aspired to be a respectful steward of that legacy for 45 years.’
“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,” said Antonio Percassi, president of Percassi, according to a news release.
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And if Starbucks can’t win them over with taste, it’s willing to try flattery and deference.
“Starbucks history is directly linked to the way the Italians created and executed the perfect shot of espresso,” said Howard Schultz, chief executive of Starbucks. “Everything that we’ve done sits on the foundation of those wonderful experiences 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.”
Starbucks isn’t the first company to launch in Italy with a product that the country is already globally known for. Domino’s Pizza Inc. DPZ, -1.00% , through a franchise deal with Italian bakery Galbuser, opened a store in Milan in October 2015.
See also: Domino’s brings American pizza — to Italy
In the case of Domino’s, it was technology that brought the American brand to as the birthplace of pizza, with the company saying that the U.S. market has a better-developed online ordering and takeout system — even if Italians eat pizza an average of seven times a month.
Starbucks is taking a more emotional approach. The company accompanied its announcement with a second press release recounting Schultz’s first trip to Italy 30 years ago and the profound impact it had on him and Starbucks’ business.
Italy has been known to be territorial when it comes to American restaurants entering its market. The True Neapolitan Pizza Association called an April 2015 McDonald’s Corp. MCD, +0.11% ad that claimed the country’s children prefer Happy Meals to pizza a “shameful” attack, according to a report from the Daily Mail. A pizza chef called it “blasphemy.”
Starbucks drew Austrian ire when it opened its first stores in Vienna, another coffee capital, a 2004 Seattle Times report indicated. The company now has more than a dozen outposts there, according to a map on the Starbucks website.
On its first quarter earnings call in January, Starbucks said that its Europe, Middle East and Africa region delivered 1% same-store-sales growth despite a drop in consumer and tourist activity in Western European cities following the Nov. 15 terrorist attacks in Paris.
See also: Starbucks outlook is bright as investments in tech and salaries pay off
“Business prior to those attacks was strong, and [the Europe, Middle East and Africa region] was on track to have a solid quarter,” said Kevin Johnson, Starbucks chief operating officer. “We have quite recently begun to see the effects of that region’s resilience and recovery.”
The company also plans to launch in South Africa and Luxembourg in 2016, according to Johnson.
Starbucks shares are up about a nickel late Monday, or just less than 0.1%, and are up more than 25% in the past year. The S&P 500 is down 7.2% over the past 12 months.
