Italy is bracing itself for the arrival of anywhere between 200 and 300 Starbucks coffee outlets in the country.
"We are aiming to open 200 to 300 sales points across Italy, we think that there's a place for it in the market," former footballer Antonio Percassi told a Milan press conference on Thursday. Percassi has been working with Starbucks on their expansion into Italy, following on from his efforts to introduce retail giants such as Zara and Victoria’s Secret to the country.
The launch, first in Milan, has been set back from this year to sometime after June 2018. By 2023, Percassi said he hopes that there will be hundreds of Starbucks shops across the entire peninsula, "if the market responds well".
Last year Howard Shultz, CEO of Starbucks, said it was Italy’s cafe culture which inspired him to build his coffee empire.
While visiting Milan and Verona in the early ’80s, he said he had been "inspired by the craftsmanship of the Milanese barista, the spirit of the Italian people, their passion for community, their friendliness and taste for quality".
Schultz recognises the “unique challenge” of introducing the Starbucks brand to Italy, a country with has long enjoyed a thriving cafe culture and one which offers coffee at affordable prices.
Whether Starbucks can convert the Italians to sipping Frappuccinos is the gamble. Elsewhere in European countries with strong coffee habits, progress has been slower.
In Portugal, the first Starbucks appeared in 2008 and the US firm had opened seven outlets by 2010 before becoming hampered in its development by the economic crisis. By January last year, the company reported that there were 11 stores in Portugal.
Existing Starbucks are in Lisbon and Porto and in February 2016 its director for Portugal, Luis Rocha e Mello said that when these two markets are more mature, Starbucks will expand operations in Portugal, including the Algarve.
Starbucks entered Spain in 2002, starting in Madrid and Barcelona and expanding to Seville and Valencia. The company said that by 2016 it had 90 outlets.
