Seattle Coffee Lands in Warsaw

The inevitable has come to Poland: Starbucks, the coffee behemoth from Seattle, has finally invaded the country. The American coffee chain so far has one location in Warsaw, right on posh Nowy Świat Street, but once inside a country, the chain’s tendency to spread like wildfire has pessimists predicting that within a few years there will be a Starbucks on every corner of the capital.

The ribbon was cut on the 8th of April, as AmRest Coffee, the joint venture between American Starbucks International Inc. and Dutch company AmRest Holdings N.V., celebrated its entry into Poland. Like the chain’s American locations, the Warsaw Starbucks is meant to be more than just a place to get coffee on the go – with plenty of seating and wireless internet available, Starbucks aims to become “part of the community,” according to Drew O’Malley, managing director of AmRest Coffee.

A second location has already opened in Wrocław on April 16th, and more are being planned throughout the country. After all, with over 16,000 locations in 49 countries, what’s a few more in Poland? However, despite the initial enthusiasm from Polish patrons, time has yet to tell if the coffee chain will be as successful here as it has been in America – especially with a medium (sorry, venti) latte going for more than 10 złoty.