Why It Took Starbucks 47 Years To Open A Store In Italy

This homecoming story was a long time in the making.

Starbucksunveiledits first ever store in Italy in 2018, a Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Milan thatis just as much a commercialemblemas it is ahistoric statement of the company'sprodigalreturn to the city that first inspired its brand.

Located in a trendy square near some of Milan's top tourist attractions, the 25,000-square foot building is outfitted in Tuscan marble and gleaming copper, featuring extravagances such as a 500-pound inhouse coffee roaster, augmented reality (AR)-configured walls, an Aperitivo bar and aliquid nitrogen affogato station.

Today, Starbucks has over32,000locations in 83 countries worldwide, bringing in over $26 billion in revenue in 2019. It is the fast-food industry's second most valuable brand, with its green-and-white logo worth some $44.5 billion.

However, in its 47-year history, there is one country from which Starbucks has remained conspicuously absent. For good reason--Italians take their coffee very differently, and don't take kindly to American corporations trying to change their culture. Now, at the height of its power and profitability, it was time for Starbucks to rethinkItaly.

All Roads Lead Back To Rome

If there is any culture in the world that takes its coffee seriously, it's the Italians.

"I think this idea of presenting itself in this traditional way with the roasteries is a cunning marketing move, because they are showing we are different, but we are the same," said Eva Del Soldato, an Assistant Professor of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania who teaches a seminar on Italian culture and food. "[It says], 'We are not here to teach Italians how to prepare coffee'. This kind of humbleness can be appreciated."

Del Soldato believes Starbucks made the right decision by picking Milan as its entry point, a city of modern fashion and finance. In contrast, Naples and Rome are the true coffee snob capitals of Italy, where the espresso culture even more insular.

But how will Starbucks successfully compete in a market like Italy, where even the most nondescript coffee bar in a small village is still likely to serve coffee good enough to bring tears to the eyes of the stuffiest Brooklyn bean connoisseur? The answer--it's not just about product. It's about theexperience.

For Milanese customers, Starbucks will become the brand that they carry around on paper cups, conveying a sense of dynamic busyness and an on-the-go attitude. It will be the place a businessman dips into to send an urgent email, or a place where you can go if you don't feel like talking to the regulars at your local bar that day. Starbucks doesn't sell just coffee: it sells a status symbol, an office, something extra. In a way, the experience justifies the brand, which justifies the price, and so on.

"They're offering coffee, but they're offering coffee with a very different formula, and speaking to an audience who can be interested in that kind of thing," Del Soldato said.

To understand why it took Starbucks so long to make the move into Italy, it is key to recognize just how different American and Italian coffee culture are, and how interwoven with national identity and values the latter is. Del Soldato believes coffee is so important to Italian culture that it is practically considered a "social right."

"Drinking coffee in Italy in many cases is not only about coffee itself, but also about spending time with friends," she said. "We think that everyone has the right to get a coffee. No matter if you're poor or rich, coffee makes us all equal."

Italians believe, quite simply, that coffee should be purist, high quality, and accessible to all. As a result, many aspects of American coffee culture, and by extension Starbucks, befuddle them. For one, Starbucks has seven possible cup sizes, from the 3-ouncedemishot to the 31-ouncetrenta. In Italy, there's just one. Starbucks makes drinks the colour of unicorns and zombies. Italy does not. Due to sheer volume of business, Starbucks is designed to serve customers quickly and efficiently, whereas in Italy, you go to a coffee bar precisely for leisure and long, winding conversations with your local barista.

Lastly, there's the price point. Starbucks is not known for selling cheap coffee, and with Starbucks Milan, an espresso will cost 1.8 euros sitting or standing at the bar (about US$2), while a cappuccino could go up to 4.5 euros.

"Italians tend to be people of habit," she said. "Things are very rooted in the territory and people like to interact with people they're well acquainted with. When things become bigger, it doesn't necessarily mean that the quality is maintained."

Still, things are changing. Outside concepts like iced coffee have made its way into the local culture, with Italy putting its own spin on it with creations like theCaffeShakerato; and cappuccinos come in regular or jumbo size. America's supersize culture was starting to catch on, even in a city as traditional as Florence.

"I wouldn't say the coffee culture in Italy is a static one, despite its traditionalism," Del Soldato said. "Since there is this awareness that coffee is so central in our lives, of course there is that attempt to sell coffee in several shapes."

Selling Italy to Italians

To succeed in Italy, foreign companies must do one of two things - sell a product better than the Italian version that already exists or find an audience that wants your product anyway.

Large American corporations like McDonald's, Ben and Jerry's, and Haagen Daz have all tried to enter the Italian market long before Starbucks, with mixed results. When Ben and Jerry's opened a shop in the touristic Piazza del Duomo in Florence years ago, they were shunned by the Italians, who regarded the hard American ice cream as an insult to Italy's wonderfully soft gelato, as well as the American tourists, who didn't come all the way across the Atlantic for ice cream they could get back home. Theshopclosedafter about two years. Haagen Daz was another Americanbrand that met the same fate in Florence.

On the other hand, McDonald's had more success thanks to its adaption to Italian taste and its brand differentiation. When it entered the market in the 80s, the fast-food giant became an exciting place for people who were on vacation or had kids to placate. McDonald's survived also by creatingspecial items like the panini andpartneringwith the Italian Ministry ofAgricultural, Food and Forestry Policies to use all-Italian ingredients grown by a cohort of young Italian farmers.

A case study hitting even closer to home is Domino's, another American corporationsellinganItalian invention to Italians. Starbucks may be cheered to know that the Detroit pizza chain has managed to hang on for dear life in Rome and Milan by differentiating itself as a home delivery service, sourcing all-Italian ingredients, and offering items tailored to Italian taste such as the Four Seasons and Quattro Formaggi pizzas.

All this goes to show that Starbucks can survive in Italy if it deploys a strategy similar to McDonald's and Dominos of integrating with the local community and culture at large. Still, it's easier said than done.

Francesco Spagnol, a 24-year-old graduate student from Bologna, said he felt indifferent about the new Starbucks in his home country. "I don't really get why a lot of people are angry," Spagnol said. "It's just one more choice people can have. I think it's not going to cause problems to Italian bars. It gives us more freedom."

Spagnol said he has only visited Starbucks a few times in his life while abroad in London, and found it wasn't the place for him because it was too crowded. In Italy, he frequents a small rotation of local bars three times a week to either study or catch up with friends.

As for the quality of Starbucks' coffee itself?

"The coffee was not bad," Spagnol said. "Just different."

QUESTION

1. In your own words, explainculture. From your own experience, what elements of culture are easier or harder to change.

2.From the article, explain the Starbuck's "experience" that could attract the local Italians (and tourists) to frequent Starbucks stores.

3.All countries and cultures have their traditional beverage and foods, yet US chains like McDonalds, Starbucks and Dominoes have enjoyed success in many countries outside of the US. In yourown opinion explain the success of these chains in your own country.

4.In your opinion, should Starbucks adopt Etic or Emic approach for their overseas marketing strategy?