US/Euro Hybrid Café moving into Chicago
Viennese established coffee bean seller

US "Starbucks" seems to be losing its growth speed in Japan. But there is an ambitious company in Vienna, the origin of European café culture, which opened its first store in the US: Julius Meinl, coffee bean merchandiser. With a hybrid of US and European store concept, the company plans to expand its store network in America.
The first store was opened recently in Chicago. The entire interior decors of this 200m² store were brought from Vienna via Air Cargo.

A waiter will bring coffee to the table (Viennese style), but one pays first at the cash register (American style). Coffee will be served in solid porcelain (Viennese style) in the store, but there is a paper-cup take out coffee (American style). The store blends casual American taste with traditional Viennese one, and hopes to appeal coffee lovers who are fed up with American style coffee stores.

Julius Meinl is an old coffee roaster established in 1862. The company's sales network was once as wide spread as the Habsburg Empire, and it still exports coffee to eastern European countries and to Balkan states. The company never established coffee shop chains, avoiding direct competition from its best customers: restaurateurs and café owners.

After having launched an internet shopping site a year and a half ago, mainly targeting the US market, the company felt the potential demand in the US. Its sales results have surpassed expectations.

The company will not focus on building a concentrated store network in one big city, but it plans to set up a flagship store in each major city for branding to increase internet sales. Thomas Meinl, the President of its exporting subsidiary, prefers a conservative approach by saying, "We are in no hurry to expand the coffee shop networks, for our goal is to increase coffee bean sales". There is an expansion plan to Japan, where internet coffee sale is also good.