Starbucks gets ready to perk up cafe culture

For a company that sells coffee, pastries and the occasional sandwich, Starbucks certainly provokes strong feelings.

To the left, the company is a dangerous superbrand deliberately seeking to saturate the urban landscape with its uniform coffee houses. Its ultimate aim, suggest writers like Naomi Klein, is to drive local independent cafes out of business.

For marketers, the company is one of the world's most dynamic brands. Starbucks, they argue, is a phenomenon, up there with corporate Goliaths such as Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

It has been able to enter virtually every market in the world and connect with local consumers. With almost 9,000 stores, a market capitalisation of $21.7 billion (€16.2 billion) and annual revenues of $5.6 billion, this is a company with true scale.

For others, the issue of whether Starbucks is morally good or bad is irrelevant. These people are not particularly interested in whether the coffee chain supports the Iraq war or not.

You see, it's all about the coffee, stupid. Every day, the internet crackles with people busily communicating their latest Starbucks experience.

Are you an Arabian Mocha Java kind of person? Or more of a Colombia Narino Supremo fiend?

There is even a website prepared to tell you what your choice of Starbucks coffee says about your personality.

But be careful, this writer typed in the words Frappachino and was met by the following description. "You're a simple person with modest tastes and a reasonable lifestyle. In other words, you're boring".

Whether anti-globalisers like it or not, the formula developed by the company appears to be working. Comparisons with the Body Shop abound. Both chains strongly emphasise social responsibility and paying their producers above market rates (they pay $1.20 a pound).

Starbucks' messianic chairman, Howard Schultz, is often compared to Body Shop founder Anita Roddick. But there is always something intangible about the chain. At the end of the day, it's only coffee.

This is not something Cliff Burrows, director of Starbucks Coffee Company (Ireland) has a problem with. He describes the company's appeal in simple terms.

"It's about getting a great cup of coffee, served to you by friendly people," he says.

As someone who introduced the Habitat brand to Ireland a few years ago, he is confident that this simple idea will win the hearts of Irish consumers.

Unlike other brands arriving into the Irish marketplace, Starbucks does not need to build up its brand presence here. Anyone who has boarded a plane in the last five years has probably heard the name, if not tasted its array of coffees.

But Burrows believes that Ireland is not just a new home for Starbucks, but possibly the perfect home.

"There is already a cafe culture in Ireland. Irish people are interested in coffee and they enjoy conversation," he says. He also suggests that the coffee house could become an alternative to the pub.

While some multinationals based in Ireland sell Starbucks products in their cafes, the Dublin store, due to open this summer, will be the first in the Republic (there is a Starbucks outlet in Belfast).

He will not discuss the arrival of Starbucks and the demise of Bewley's, but there is little doubt that the arrival of the US company will arouse strong feelings, just as Bewley's closure did.

However, Burrows is confident that the first store will be followed by others. He recognises that breaking the Irish market will take time. Rents in high-profile locations like Grafton Street are among the steepest in the world.

But Burrows says most capitals in Europe - whether it be London or Paris - suffer from this problem. He is reluctant to talk about where the store will be located, but he says the company usually comes up with "intelligent solutions" to this problem.

He says stores can be situated near railways, in the centre of a town, in bookshops or in side streets. "Its really about trying to get a mix," he says, although usually, the stores are not far from each other. In relation to size, it can vary, from 60 square metres (640 square feet) to 1,858 square metres.

He robustly rejects the suggestion that the arrival of Starbucks will hasten the end of the local independent cafe. "The whole sector has grown in recent years.. independents have continued to grow," Burrows says.

He points to a report by consultants Allegro, which shows that the UK coffee market has grown on average by 4 per cent a year for the last five years. He believes that there is no reason that the Irish market should be different.

He says that the coffee industry is maturing and compares it to the wine industry.

"Remember when everyone used to drink Blue Nun," he laughs. Now wine has a real cachet and it is able to compete strongly with spirits and beer, he points out. Asked why the brand is so resilient, even when confronted with localised challenges, Burrows replies that it's about choice.

"When it comes to coffee, people want to make their own drink when they go to Starbucks," he says. While food is sold in its outlets, the range is limited and is there to complement the coffee.

However the sale of the New York Times in American stores has given those outlets a certain intellectual air. The idea being that customers can lounge around, read their paper and sip a piping hot decaf house blend.

The company's plans for Ireland will be direct. Franchising is out, the stores will be directly owned and employees will be employed by Starbucks Coffee Company (Ireland Ltd).

Burrows realises that Irish Starbucks will probably not look like any other Starbucks.

"We believe it's very important to be part of the local community," Burrows says.

He says the company tries its best to blend into the local surroundings. For example a Starbucks outlet in London's Hayward Gallery is tastefully designed to fit in with the high art surroundings of the venue, he claims. Likewise, he says, when the company opened an outlet in Sheffield, an old steel town, the artwork used in the store reflected this proud history.

Even the chain's vociferous opponents will not be turned away, he says. "People are entitled to their views. We are keen to have a dialogue." He doesn't say it, but presumably the dialogue would take place over an Arabian Mocha Sanani.