Lavazza to come to Austria

Italian coffee-roaster Lavazza is planning to open 10 to 15 coffee shops in Austria over the next three-to-five years, company officials announced today (Weds). Marcus Rheindorf, responsible for the chain’s operations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, said today the first store - a franchise - would open by late 2010. He added it would probably be in Vienna. The company has said it wants its Austrian franchises to be located in inner-city areas and to have outdoor seating. Rheindorf said such shops, where customers would also be able to order snacks and buy non-food items, would eventually have 500 customers and a turnover of 800 to 1,200 Euros a day. He claimed coffee shops like Starbucks would not compete with Lavazza, where customers could consume coffee standing at a bar or be served at tables. He said Lavazza’s prices would be lower than those at other coffee shops. In Germany, he said, an espresso cost 1.70 Euros and a cappuccino 2.30 Euros. Rheindorf said Lavazza had nine coffee shops in Germany, Italy and the USA, but would have 16 or 17 by year’s end, and would expand into Spain and Romania. He said Lavazza would take a measured approach to expansion. "We don’t want to expand rapidly but want to expand healthily," he said. US coffee chain Starbucks recently closed two of its thirteen stores in Austria just months after saying Austrian stories would not be affected by a global savings programme. The chain said the closures in March and April had completed its "consolidation phase" in Austria. The chain had claimed as recently as last January that its Austrian operations would not be affected by its worldwide savings plans and that it saw potential for growth in the country.