From Starbucks with love
Posted: Thursday, September 06, 2007 2:36 PM
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Moscow, Russia
By Yonatan Pomrenze, NBC News Producer
It was inevitable. Russia already has McDonald’s, KFC, Pizza Hut, TGI Friday’s and Subway.
So it wasn’t a question whether or not Starbucks would also make it here. It was only a matter of when.
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| NBC News/ Yonatan Pomrenze |
| Employees at Russia’s first Starbucks coffee shop pose before a ribbon-cutting ceremony on opening day. |
And Thursday morning, with little fanfare and a quick ribbon-cutting ceremony, Starbucks opened its first coffee shop in a shopping mall just outside Moscow.
The low-key opening was no surprise. Starbucks may have opted for what company executives called a "soft launch" for their first Russian store in order to test the Russian waters for Starbucks’ potential success.
Muscovites coffee culture
It’s a bit late to jump into the coffee shop chain scene in Moscow. Local franchises like Coffee House and Shokoladnitsa are quite dominant in Moscow. In some areas, they even reach the Starbucks standard that I remember from living in New York – two stores from the same company located right across the street from each other.
Furthermore, while the café culture is strong in Moscow, the Starbucks culture isn’t necessarily so. It’s rare to see someone walking down a Moscow street drinking coffee on the go. Muscovites prefer a sit-down café where the waiter serves you, not where you have to wait to bring your own coffee to the table.
And two curious onlookers said they thought Starbucks had a shot in Russia and were willing to give it a try – until they found out that all Starbucks are non-smoking.
Cultural concessions for the local market
Starbucks is making a few concessions to the local flavor by offering actual mugs in addition to paper cups and a yet-to-be-opened outdoor veranda where people can smoke.
But for those who already know and love Starbucks, its success is all but certain. The first cup of brew sold today was to Alyona Mikhailova, who had already tried Starbucks from her travels abroad. She said that in comparison to Russian coffee shops, "Starbucks is a completely different concept, completely different coffee, and completely different experience."
When Anne, a Seattle-native and self-defined Starbucks fan, came out of the supermarket next to Starbucks and saw that it was up and running, she yelled out in surprise and came running over. She had no doubt that Starbucks would "definitely work here. It works everywhere."
Even people who had never heard of Starbucks figured it would do well, given the continued economic growth in Moscow that gets people out of the house and into cafes and restaurants.
Slow start
Still, every country has its own nuances, as Starbucks learned the hard way. Their plans to open in Russia were put on hold until 2005, when they won a court case against a Russian trademark squatter who claimed that he owned the rights to the Starbucks name in Russia and wanted $600,000 from the company to give it up.
So the coffee giant is taking it slow, saying they will open just one store in Moscow city center by the end of the year as they add another jewel to the Starbucks crown.
