Italian premium coffee maker illycaffe is open to a strategic partnership to help accelerate the growth of its retail network and could consider selling a minority stake for the first time in its 86-year history, chairman Andrea Illy told Reuters.
The group wants to expand its network of branded cafes at home and abroad, especially in the United States where bigger rivals like Starbucks and JAB are jumping on a trend away from regular coffee bars towards high-end cafes.
Illycaffe – which serves up 7 million cups of its brew in restaurants and cafes each day – has 219 illy-branded outlets outside Italy, including 23 in North America.
In comparison, Seattle-based Starbucks has around 14,000 US outlets and recently unveiled a new up-market “roastery” in New York. JAB owns several chains, including hipster favourite Intelligentsia Coffee, with well over 10,000 US stores.
