Why There is No Starbucks in Italy
According to the Financial Times, Starbucks has bowed to the Italian baristi.
This is an interesting case study for students of global business (or people stuck for a blog entry over the holidays.) Starbucks appeared in six more countries this year, including Russia and Egypt, bringing the total to 43 countries. But they have no presence in Djibouti, Mongolia - or Italy, claims the FT. I wonder about this claim. Is there really a Starbucks store in India? I couldn’t find any when I was there.
Anyway, in the case of Italy, it seems that factors like pricing, customer impatience, and obtaining the necessary planning permission for a chain of stores are major factors in keeping Starbucks out. But wait a minute, wouldn’t McDonalds have the similar problems with planning and pricing, and there are plenty of McDonalds er, “restaurants” in Italy selling cheap food and competing with local vendors offering great fare of world renown? I don’t understand the logic here. Plus the Starbucks product line is a lot more diversified than just coffee. There’s got to be some other major factor at play here. According to the FT, Starbucks say the lack of an Italian presence is “more out of humility and respect” and “it’s not for business reasons and Italy is not less of a strategic priority.” I suspect it’s because Starbucks can’t source those tiny little cups with a big enough logo.
Personally, I think Starbucks would do well in Italy - even if its only from tourist business. I’ve always been irritated by those tiny little cups of coffee the Italians drink. For me, if it ain’t in a 20 ounce cup, then it’s not a proper drink. And coffee needs to be drunk sitting down. Can you imagine if the Irish decided that Guinness should be drunk out of tiny little glasses, standing at a bar? Ridiculous.
Oh well, I am off to Firenze shortly to buy shoes, so I shall try and ascertain the opinions of the locals. I’m bringing my 20 oz travel mug with me though.
More: Starbucks Geek (Il weblog per i veri amanti di Starbucks)
Verba ipsa loquitur: your words speak for themselves (and for you).
Localization requires a glocal view and yours’s not.
Starbucks coffee, like American coffee (and largely American meal) in general, has nothing to do with the Italian “caffè”.
Italians won’t ever drink a cappuccino after lunch, while are used to drink a caffè (espresso) comfortably seated at a small table (tavolino) outdoor or at the bar (bancone).
In any case, caffè should meet the 3C rule: carico (strong), caldo (hot), comodo (comfortable).
Personally, I do not think Starbucks would do well in Italy: it would probably seen by most Italians as just another American “invention” (americanata), like the phone.
Those tiny little cups of coffee that so much irritate you are the standard Italian way to have a 3C caffè, since the cardboard cup does not allow for a tasty caffè.
The American coffee is a kind of drink of its own, like Pepsi or Coke.
I don’t know whether you can taste a 20 ounce cup of American coffee at the end of a standard Italian meal. Hope so. I never will.
Finally, you probably can have the same Irish Guinness stout outside Ireland, but you cannot have a true Italian caffè outside Italy, even though it is served at a Starbucks shop in the Village, where you can have a hot brown-hued untasty long drink (bibitone) for sure.
Posted by on 12/29 at 07:43 AM"you can probably have the same Irish Guinness stout outside Ireland”. As someone who headed up the (failed) Campaign Against Cold Guinness in San Francisco (Guinness stout should be served warm), you couldn’t be more wrong… but good luck to Guinness (or Diageo or whatever they’re now called) in promoting the Irish brand globally anyway for people to enjoy however and whenever (even if they don’t know it)!
Posted by Ultan on 12/29 at 01:07 PMNice shot… This is probably the reason why less than 2 Brits (only?) out of 3000 can ask for the toilette in any language other than English, probably “learned” at school. 3 of them cannot even apologize while 90% spend their holidays only where thay do not have to do do without their mother tongue. But this is probably why 40 of them out of 100 won’t ever thirst: they do know how to ask for a beer in half a dozen language, even though it may be ice-cold as it is drunk like this elsewhere.
(see http://gm.tv/index.cfm?articleid=26549)Globalization has nothing to do with invasion, and with all the due respect for
Djibouti and Mongolia, Italy is all another place.Bt the way, if you want to buy your leather hand-made Italian fancy shoes to shof off at the next meeting, you’d better leave Florence and head to the province of Macerata.
Posted by on 12/29 at 01:58 PMAlas, that would mean passing up the Swiftian prospect of a suitable photograph of me sitting in the Uffizi cafe with my Apple MacBookPro and Starbucks travel mug as I write my latest Mutlilingual article on web 2.0 globalization issues (see my Mashup Camp Dublin posting for a taster).
Posted by Ultan on 12/29 at 04:25 PM
Next entry: Global By Design's Web Globalization Predictions for 2008+
Previous entry: No way to treat our friends, indeed