Re: UKNM: Wimps?

[Phil Gyford]

At 16:16 27/10/98 +0100, you wrote:

>>Does anyone know who started Seattle, was it ex Starbuck employee's ??

>

>As far as I remember - no


>From Electronic Telegraph, 30/4/98:


Coffee couple drink to £12m gold blend By Simon Anderson 


SEATTLE Coffee Company, the husband-and-wife operation started in 1995 from

a single store in Covent Garden, yesterday sold out to US giant Starbucks

for £50m, valuing each of its coffee bars at nearly £1m.


The deal will leave Scott and Ally Svenson - who set up their own

coffee-shop when they could not find a decent espresso in London - some

£12.5m richer, and put them in charge of Starbuck's European expansion. Mr

Svenson said yesterday that Seattle Coffee had a choice between joining the

giant Starbucks, which has 1,600 coffee bars in America, or competing

against it. He said: "Ultimately, Starbucks is going to be a global coffee

brand."


Seattle Coffee shareholders will get 1.8m Starbucks shares under the deal,

valuing the 56-store chain at more than $83m (£50m). Mr and Mrs Svenson own

about a quarter of Seattle Coffee's shares, with the balance held by around

50 private investors.


The deal is the first step in a major European expansion programme for

Seattle-based Starbucks, which plans to open 500 coffee-bars across Europe

in the next five years to add to its worldwide chain.


Mr Svenson said Seattle Coffee - which will be rebranded Starbucks over the

next year - had an annualised turnover of about £20m, but the costs of

rolling out new coffee-bars throughout Britain meant that it was not yet

profitable.


Seattle Coffee's Aim-listed competitor, Coffee Republic, yesterday welcomed

Starbucks to the UK market. Bobby Hashemi, Coffee Republic's managing

director, said: "Having a large, established market player serves to expand

the market for everyone." He said the UK coffee-bar market was in its

infancy, with just 200 outlets in total in a market able to sustain more

than 1,500.