Sep 30th, 2015, 11:29 AM

Coffee-Addicted France is Getting a Caffeine Boost

By Skylar Smiley
Image credit: Flickr/Luca Vanzella "Boulevard Saint Germain, Starbucks, Paris (FR)"
Starbucks and Monoprix have teamed together to bring the American coffee giant to the French marketplace.

Starbucks Corporation has announced a licensed partnership with Monoprix to open up “salons du café” within their stores. You will be able to find your pumpkin spice frappuccino at Monoprix, a French retail chain that provides a wide range of products and services and will now add Starbucks coffee to its product profile.

By the end of 2015, two locations, the Monoprix GBL in Lyon and the Monoprix Beaugrenille in Paris, will have new cafes installed. More franchises will open in the future but total numbers have not been specified yet.

Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high quality coffee since 1971. They have over 22,000 worldwide stores and hope to penetrate the French market. French shoppers have shown a resistance to the American coffee chain and it remains to be seen whether their coffee will be to their taste. For those of you who are American and familiar with Starbucks, the addition of these mini cafes will not be a shock to you. Many private stores like Barnes and Nobles and Target already offer the "salon du cafe" experience, however, the opening of these new cafes within Monoprix will allow more French people to enjoy Starbuck's coffee products. 

 

Flickr: MCA "Starbucks Paris"

However, Starbucks seems optimistic about this new business venture. “This is a fantastic opportunity to bring the best Starbucks experience that we can offer, to those shoppers who are already looking for the best services and products at Monoprix,” said Arjan Oudejans at Starbucks EMEA.

Monoprix is also excited about this new opportunity. “We pride ourselves on offering the widest variety of services and products, and the addition of Starbucks is another example of us giving our customers more,” said Dominique Benoit, the Head of Real Estate and Franchise at Monoprix. “We are looking forward to surprising our customers with an innovative and premium service - the highest quality coffee and Starbucks experience.”