This morning, Il Messaggero announces that Starbucks has decided not to make a foray onto the Italian peninsula (whoop! whoop!). Reportedly, Italian bars are too good for the global chain to compete and Italian bariste (coffee makers in bars) are just too quick and too expert for their Starbucks competitors.
The Messaggero story is derived from one published in the Financial Times on 26 December. In that story, Starbucks owner Howard Schultz acknowledged that the long-established Italian coffee culture was the inspiration for his successful chain of coffee bars and commented on the absence of the multinational corporation in Italy, claiming respect for Italian tradition as the reason:
“It’s more out of humility and respect that we’re not in Italy. We would want to be very careful….It’s not for business reasons and Italy is not less of a strategic priority.”
