In a meeting with journalists at the new establishment in the Bernabeú stadium, Antonio Romero said he wants to continue the pace of openings and define new models, such as the “drive-thru” format stores [without leaving the vehicle] that he hopes to open in 2026 and other smaller stores in shopping malls and airports.
With 23 years of presence in Spain, by 2025, Starbucks, the American coffee chain, will have opened 13 company-owned stores and three franchised stores in the Iberian Peninsula, for a total of 225, of which 32 are in Portugal.
The goal is to maintain Starbucks’ “solid and consolidated growth,” according to the managing director, who detailed that this year they incorporated 260 new employees, totalling more than 3,000 people at Alsea Iberia.
Faced with increasing competition from speciality coffee shops, Romero emphasised that he wants to “continue nurturing the connection with the customer” and cited as an example the loyalty program, with more than one million members, representing more than six million transactions per year.