Starbucks Is Bringing a Fancy Italian Bakery to the U.S.

Starbucks is preparing to send its sugary Frappuccinos abroad to Italy, with its first Italian outpost slated to hit Milan in 2017. In exchange, Italy will be sending fancy baked goods to the States.

Starbucks announced today that it’s investing in an Italian “boutique bakery and cafe” called Princi. The venture will include opening more Princi locations worldwide (it currently has four in Milan and one in London). Starbucks is also “making Princi the exclusive food purveyor at the [upcoming] Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Rooms in Shanghai and New York”; that will include baking from scratch on-site.

According to Reuters, the first new Princi location is planned for Starbucks’ hometown of Seattle and will open in 2017.

Princi stores are open 24 hours and feature a “minimalist aesthetic”; staffers wear uniforms designed by Armani. According to Starbucks’ press release, “Princi locations are well-known for their twenty four hours of operation, offering customers everything from light breakfast to impressive dinners.”

Hopefully this turns out better than Starbucks’ last bakery endeavor: In 2012 it purchased San Francisco bakery chain La Boulange for $100 million and began serving its pastries at Starbucks locations nationwide, but by 2014 customers soured on the fancier European-style baked goods; the company ended up nixing the pastries and shuttering every La Boulange location.

• Starbucks Is Bringing Leading Italian Artisan Bakery Princi to Customers Worldwide [Starbucks Newsroom]
• Starbucks Invests in Italy’s Princi Boutique Bakery [Reuters]
• Starbucks’ Latte Empire Is Expanding to Italy [E]