Starbucks' next move: high-end Italian bakeries
For all those people for whom Starbucks just isn't fancy enough, ready your dainty little pinky fingers for the next big thing.
Starbucks is readying an expansion of Princi, a chain of high-end Italian bakeries in which Starbucks first invested in July 2016. New stores are slated to open in Seattle, New York and Chicago in 2017 and 2018.
Princi's baked goods will also be served in the company's growing group of flagship locations, which Starbucks calls Roasteries. There's currently one in Seattle and the company plans to open Roasteries in Shanghai in 2017 and New York in 2018.
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In addition to those flagship locations, Starbucks has plans to open around 1,000 Starbucks Reserve stores, which the company bills as "a new retail format that will integrate the theatre and romance of the Roastery with the unique culinary experience of the company’s new Italian food partner, Princi."
The announcement comes about a week after news broke of the impending resignation of CEO Howard Schultz, who had emerged during his time at Starbucks as one of the most influential and socially conscious high-profile executives. Schutlz helped build Starbucks from a small, local shop in Seattle to an international giant.
The new efforts are part of Starbucks' larger five-year plan, which includes ambitions to open 12,000 new locations around the world.
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
