Alsea sees green shoots for Starbucks in Europe – but major market remains a concern

Ongoing store closures and sluggish footfall in one of the franchise group’s largest Starbucks markets complicate an otherwise encouraging second-quarter results

Since opening its first licensed Starbucks coffee shop in Mexico City in 2002, franchise group Alsea has become one of the US coffee chain’s largest and most important partners – not just in Latin America, but in Europe too.

Alsea took direct control of Starbucks’ business in Spain and Portugal in 2018 before acquiring licensing and development rights for France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg the following year.

It now operates 606 Starbucks stores across Europe – the equivalent of one in every six of the US coffee chain’s outlets in the region.