Starbucks hits the coffee capital of the world

Starbucks stores have come to Vienna, Austria, and they're not faring quite as well as hoped. Store managers are finding they must co-exist with traditional home-grown coffee shops in what some refer to as the coffee capital of the world. (NPR's Day to Day/sound file)

Comments

Is it any wonder Starbucks has failed in Vienna. A Viennese coffee is vastly superior to any of the rubbish churned out by Starbucks, its like trying to make Pizza Hut popular in Italy!

[Maia]

I'm in Lexington, Virginia...and there are no Starbucks within an hour drive away! You really take Starbucks for granted when there ain't one on every street corner like Los Angeles.

[vislandcub]

i don't think anyone expected a starbucks revolution in austria.

that would be.... stupid.

[Marienhilfestrasse]

The MarienHilfestrasse Starbucks is doing OK
business. But locals just use the upstairs washroom and
sit in the big windows.
Very nordic light woods kind of feeling.

Viennese go to coffee shops for the absolutely
wonderful cakes mit cream.
There are so many choices that Starbucks is
an afterthought, as in Why bother?
But they have so many empty chairs that it is
tempting.

[blackeagle]

I think it was an interesting investment to send Starbucks to Austria. Starbucks' initial vision was to bring coffeehouse culture to America full force (to actually develop one here). Culture Clash! I am not sure if it is any question of the quality of product, but perhaps a matter of preference of culture. Do Italians have coffee the same way as the Viennese? Is Starbucks really trying to take over Viennese Culture (probably not), or perhaps offer another option. I think it was interesting that the one coffee shop owner didn't think anyone cared where the coffee comes from. People in the Starbucks culture care. Are the coffee house cultures similar, more likely so than not. What seems different is that Starbucks has a history and foundation in selling quality whole bean coffee (not a better culture, just different). Maybe Starbucks has something to offer to Vienna, a whole bean worldview.

[Kaffeemit]

Vienna dispatch
________________
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,,520167, 00.html _________________________________________________

Coffee: a timeless drink
Vienna has been famous for its coffee houses for centuries, but now
they face a new invader from America, as Kate Connolly discovers
Wednesday July 11, 2001
Sometimes you really can make time stand still. A visit to one of
Vienna's 200 coffee houses is all that's required. In the relaxed,
slow-motion atmosphere of the lounge-style cafes, waiters greet you
with concentrated bows and allow you to sit for a whole day nursing
your choice of coffee.

There is a vast range of them on offer. From Melanges to Grosser
Brauners to Verldngertes, the menu has more shades of brown to offer
than you'll find on any paint pallet. Hans Diglas, a Kaffeesieder or
coffee boiler, as coffee house owners have been known for three
centuries, once explained to me why Vienna's coffee houses were so
important to the Viennese.

Article continues

Why would people travel to Vienna and think ''oh I know why don't we go to Starbucks!' ? Its absurd. Sample some real Viennese coffee not the bland rubbish Starbucks churns out in virtually every corner of the globe.

[StarbuxGrrl]

When i go there next year i'm going to go into Starbucks... and i'll also try the local fare. Like it's been stated before, it's another option. I know it'll be a nice taste of home when i'm far far away.

[Varangy]

Viennese coffee is both highly overrated and expensive, and usually served to you by some stupid Austrian anyway.

I LOVE the Starbucks at the end of the Kartnerstrasse.

[Val]

I think Sturbucks can win its customers by offering a wide variety of unique coffee drinks that competition doesn't have. The question is that people in Austria are willing to try them or not. If they opened a store in Vienna, the company must have done its marketing research and we don't have to worry about it. Probably this is only the begining.

[Barbara Stirling]

STARBUXGRRL,

Your ugly American comment about "some stupid Austrian" serving you coffee is an embarrassment.

As an American, you shame me and you shame yourself.

Please, do us a favor and drink your coffee in the US and let Vienna be the classy city that is.

[Boston Starbucks Rebel]

Starbucks ventures into the international market has been met with mixed results. Some countries that do no have an anti-American attitude are more likely to embrace Starbucks while other places that do have an anti-American opinion are more likely not to patronize the store. However, I believe that the product itself, that being coffee, should be judged and not the company that prepares it. As far as I am concerned the Viennese Blend that Starbucks once had was perfectly good and quite yummy.

[-m]

Most coffee in europe is absolute swill. What got people thinking that they had good coffee over there to begin with? It's that whole mentality of "oooh its european, it must be good." Rubbish. Starbucks serves a much better cup of coffee and has a higher quality emplyee.

[Fleeting]

The coffee in Europe may taste like "rubbish" to some, but that is because the coffee there is usually "stronger" than the coffee here. Think French Press. Less water in correlation to coffee.

The drip coffee here is different, smooth, what we're used to.

It's not the European "name" that makes people desire the coffee, unless of course they are buying it when catering to the "it's not American, so it must be good" ideology. Obviously, from a European's persective, drip coffee is usually not what he or she is used to.

You must remember, it's all perspective as to what tastes good or not.

Also, Euroeans have the leave me alone mindset, so pestering them with "how are you's?" and "thank you" is outside of their normal comfort zone. That is reflected in their so called 'lousy' service, and why they don't seem a friendly or as "legendary" as their American counterparts.

Just look at the situation from another P.O.V.

[Enzo Barabato]

I think Starbuks is a mega monopoly. The Americans didn't have coffee culture 20 year ago. This is their discovery. That is why so many americans are crazy for it.
I don't agree with the fact that they want to be everywhere. Their coffee is just like any other coffee. At the end; coffee is just coffee. If it's pure its good. But at Starbucks you will NEVER get the style and the class of a real coffee shop. Americans are used to drinking EVERYTHING from plastic cups and that by far is the worst mistake in making coffee. Or do you drink wine in paper cups? I guess not. And if you do you probably bought it in the USA.
And also FYI. The best coffee is ofcours where coffee plants grown and tha is NOT Vienna nor Seatle. Go to the REAL thing. Colombia, Venezuela,Bolivia, Brazil and Turkey