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The American chain is to open its first shop in Milan next year, fulfilling what chief executive Howard Schultz called a 30-year dream.
這家美國連鎖店將于明年在米蘭開設首家店鋪，一償首席執行官霍華德•舒爾茨(Howard Schultz)所稱的30年的夢想。
The long wait before entering the country, despite opening thousands of shops elsewhere across Europe, highlights the stiff competition the Seattle-based company can expect in the home of the espresso.
星巴克已經在歐洲其他國家開設了上千家店鋪，但進入意大利卻經過了漫長等待，從此可以預見這家西雅圖公司在濃縮咖啡(espresso)的故鄉將要面臨的激烈競爭。
McDonald’s McCafe brand operates in the country, but it remains small in terms of market share. Italy’s distinctive coffee culture is based around independent cafés and bars, which account for nearly 90 per cent of the market, according to Euromonitor.
麥當勞(McDonald)雖然在意大利開設了麥咖啡(McCafe)，但所占市場份額依然很小。據歐睿(Euromonitor)調查顯示，意大利特有的咖啡文化基于獨立的咖啡館和酒吧，它們占市場份額近90%。
“The dream of the company always has been to sometime complete the circle and open in Italy, but we haven’t been ready,” said Mr Schultz in a statement on Sunday. His own experiences in Italian coffee bars inspired the Starbucks coffee shop concept, he explained.
上周日，舒爾茨發表聲明稱：“公司一直夢想著有朝一日能在意大利開設店鋪，畫下一個完滿的圓圈，但此前我們還未準備好。”他表示，正是自己在意大利咖啡館的體驗啟發他想出了星巴克咖啡店的概念。
Starbucks is working with Percassi, the company that partnered with Benetton for 30 years, brought Zara to the Italian market and has worked with a string of American brands including Nike, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. It also runs Kiko, a make-up company.
星巴克將與Percassi合作，這家公司與貝納通(Benetton)合作了30年，曾將Zara帶入意大利市場，并與耐克(Nike)、拉爾夫•勞倫(Ralph Lauren)、湯米•希爾費格(Tommy Hilfiger)等一系列美國品牌有過合作。Percassi旗下還有化妝品公司Kiko。
Antonio Percassi, the company’s founder and president, acknowledged the tricky nature of opening a coffee chain in his home market.
Percassi創始人兼總裁安東尼•佩爾卡西(Antonio Percassi)承認在本國市場開設一個咖啡連鎖店的棘手性。
“We know that we are going to face a unique challenge with the opening of the first Starbucks store in Italy, the country of coffee, and we are confident that Italian people are ready to live the Starbucks experience, as already occurs in many other markets,” Mr Percassi said.
佩爾卡西說：“我們知道要在意大利開設第一家星巴克店鋪將要面對的獨特挑戰，我們也有信心意大利人民已經準備好體驗星巴克的服務，就像其他許多市場的情況一樣。”
Starbucks said that “espresso will clearly be star of the show” in Italy, but that it had not yet settled the menu. “We plan to tailor our offerings to the Italian customer in a way that will demonstrate the respect and learning we’ve acquired” in Italy, a spokeswoman said.
星巴克表示“濃縮咖啡肯定會成為意大利店鋪的主打產品”，但目前尚未確定菜單。該公司發言人表示：“我們計劃為意大利客戶量身打造特色服務，以此展示我們對他們的尊重，以及我們所學到的知識。”
Starbucks, which is planning about 1,800 net store openings globally in fiscal 2016, has 21,000 coffee shops across the world. However, there have been bumps on the way, and it has not met with success in every market. In 2008 it closed most of its stores in Australia, leaving just 25.
星巴克計劃2016財年在全球開設1800家連鎖店，目前它在世界各地擁有2.1萬間咖啡店。但店鋪數量總是在變化，而且并不是在所有市場都能獲得成功。2008年星巴克關閉了澳大利亞大部分店鋪，只留下25家店。
Italy is one of the largest consumers of coffee in the EU, which in itself is the largest importer of coffee beans in the world, but being one of the most competitive means Starbucks has a big job on its hands.
意大利是歐洲最大的咖啡消費國之一，其本身就是全球最大的咖啡豆進口國，這意味著星巴克想要進入這個競爭最激烈的市場，將是一項艱巨的任務。
