Starbucks moves European Head Office to London
Starbucks will move the regional headquarters of its Europe, Middle East and Africa business from Amsterdam to London, effective end of 2014.
We are set to move the regional headquarters of our Europe, Middle East and Africa business from Amsterdam to London, effective end of 2014.
This move will concentrate a modest number of senior executives in our operation in London, some of whom are currently based in Amsterdam.
By making this move, our senior leaders will be better able to oversee the UK market in which over half of our European stores — with more than 7,500 employees (we call them partners) — are located.
Announcing the move, Kris Engskov, President, Starbucks EMEA said: “Closer proximity to our biggest market will be critical to our success as we grow our business across Europe and the globe.”
Since Starbucks opened its first stores in Europe in 1998, we have grown to over 2,000 stores in 35 countries. Today, our largest and fastest growing European market is the UK. As the coffee industry has grown, the UK and London specifically has become one of the most competitive coffee markets in the world.
In the UK alone, we plan to open over 100 retail stores across the country this year, creating 1,000 new, permanent jobs. We expect continued growth in other European markets as well. This move will mean we pay more tax in the UK.
We will continue to employ over 200 partners in our Amsterdam hub to support our EMEA business. On this site we roast and distribute all of the coffee for the whole of Europe, and that will not change with the European Head Office move.