[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by LucyLu

That's the reason why Starbuck is not present in Italy.

I had to google that...and it's true!

At a time when Starbucks views global expansion as the key to future growth—and when it is virtually impossible to walk through a major European city without stumbling onto a Starbucks—the company has no presence whatsoever in the country that inspired its founding.

But it doesn't seem like quality would be the problem. Business model is:

In the U.S., most restaurants, including Starbucks, fill an espresso cup nearly to the top. In Italy, a typical serving rises only about a finger’s width from the bottom.

Chiari sells at least 1,000 cups of coffee a day, mostly in three short bursts, during which customers press and jostle against the bar. (Ordering it “to go” is unthinkable.) The first rush is at breakfast, on the way to work. There’s another at 10 a.m., when Italians break for espresso, and one more after lunch. A similar rhythm plays out in the nearly 140,000 bars and cafes across the country.

Italians, particularly those living in the south, prefer a stronger, more astringent espresso. Starbucks prides itself on using expensive arabica coffee beans with complex flavors. In Italy, because of cost and market demand, many roasters mix in significant quantities of bitter robusta beans.

In Italy, Starbucks finds itself on the knife-edge of globalization. The company may have taught tea-drinking cultures like China and Japan how to appreciate a cup of coffee. But in the birthplace of the cappuccino, Schultz confronts a more daunting challenge. Can a company succeed in a place where its product is available on every corner, where consumers remain wedded to a culture that’s all their own? Is it possible for an international brand to repackage a local tradition to the very people who invented it? There’s reason to believe the answer could be “si.”

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...092012.html#p1