Starbucks celebrates today, with a rich calendar of events, the 5 anniversary of its arrival in Italy. Forty years after the first visit to Italy by the founder of Starbucks in 1983, Howard Schultz’s dream of bringing his brand to our country came true on September 7, 2018, with the opening of the first store. Thus began the adventure of the American brand in Italy with the Starbucks Reserve Roastery Milano, in the central Piazza Cordusio, the only Reserve Roastery to be present in Europe, Middle East and Africa, a tribute that Starbucks has dedicated to Milan and our country.

From that beginning in 2018 this adventure has been a shared challenge with the Percassi group, licensee partner of the brand in Italy, which in 5 years has opened in 9 regions 30 stores in the most evocative cities of the peninsula, including Rome, Florence, Verona, Turin, Genoa, Bari, Bergamo, with the opening of other stores by the end of the year when, for example, is expected to open for the first time in Naples.

To open the dances for the festivities will be Starbucks Reserve Roastery Milan, which will host a series of events from today, september 7, to october 1. Ranging from coffee workshops to mixology evenings, from concerts of blues, jazz and bossanova to the presentation of books, as well as hosting events of the Milan Fashion Week in September. 

The festivities will then continue with Percassi throughout the month of November, offering consumers two coffee tastings a week with the tasting of two different coffee blends and two extraction methods in all Starbucks stores, from the North to the South of the peninsula, to give them the Starbucks experience.

With this anniversary Starbucks also celebrates its partners, namely its employees, emphasizes an official statement, "the core of the stores, welcoming and involving thousands of customers every day throughout Italy: since its arrival in our country the company has hired about 1,200 partners, accompanying each in his professional path and providing a total of about 160,000 hours of training".

For each new store Starbucks is also committed to supporting the territory, both with donations to local non-profit organizations, such as Banco Alimentare and Fondazione Don Gino Rigoldi in Milan, both also through the enhancement of the artistic and architectural heritage of the cities in which the brand is present. The Starbucks Reserve Roastery Milano, adds the note, "is the most emblematic example: made with fine materials from Italy, in addition to the involvement of Italian design brands and artisans". 

"We are proud to be the first store that opened in Milan, pioneers in a successful path that celebrates today its first five years -emphasizes Louise Mills, director & general manager Starbucks Roastery Milan-. We celebrate with enthusiasm with our partners this day in the name of sharing the results achieved. Our goal is to constantly improve our quality and service standards, thanks to the important contribution of our employees and suppliers".

"We are very pleased to have been able to bring the Starbucks experience in Italy and to make it try to more and more Italian consumers -adds Vincenzo Catrambone, general manager of Starbucks Italia-. Today, five years later, I think about the achievements of Starbucks and Percassi, looking to the future with the same passion as when I started, continuing to expand the store network, maintaining the values and a quality of work that have so far been fundamental to our success".