Blonde Fur
They say cats have seven lives. This is what the route of some entrepreneurs looks like, with the Marinopoulos family perhaps being the most typical example. Having lost their most iconic assets, they still maintain presence in domestic retail, even if limited. Since yesterday, however, this print has shrunk even more. After 24 years Starbucks in Greece and Cyprus passed into exclusive control of the Kuwaiti Alshaya group, leaving the family only GAP clothing stores as the last organized "fortress".
The agreement and the Timing
It was February 2002 when Panos Marinopoulos, known as "Panaras", who left life in November 2025, proudly announced an agreement that was to change the coffee culture in Greece. The family with the multi-shaft business – from supermarkets and medicines to clothing and cosmetics – had acquired Starbucks' development rights in Greece.
"Starbucks is the brand with the highest potential in the specialty coffee industry," said Marinopoulos Brothers Board member at the time, citing the company's experience of partnerships with Carrefour, Sephora and Marks and Spencer.
On Starbucks' side, Peter Maslen, then president of Starbucks Coffee International, had described Greece as "one of the most important strategic markets in continental Europe". And it wasn't just polite. Timing's choice had specific logic. The chain wanted a strong presence in Athens that was to welcome the 2004 Olympic Games, seeing that millions of visitors from around the world would come into contact with the signal that at the time was in a global development orbit, with only 5,886 stores, compared to the 40,990 that is currently numbered in 90 countries.
From the pedestrian street of Korai to 70 shops
The first Greek Starbucks opened in September 2002 on the pedestrian street of Korai, in the property hosted by the historic Floka pastry shop. However, the Starbucks Coffee International consortium with Marinopoulos Brothers SA was not limited to Greece, as the agreement also concerned the Balkans, Cyprus, Switzerland and Austria, with the Marinopoulos family taking on ambitious growth targets towards the mother.
In the early years competition was almost nonexistent. The Flocafe chain was the only organized chain with claims and the expansion of the American brand was fast. By 2008 Starbucks stores in Greece had reached 70, with presence in many cities of the country and opening in Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria. It was the climax and at the same time the beginning of the end. Immediately afterwards, even before the effects of the economic crisis appeared to be full-scale, the company began to shrink.
The gradual weakening
The next few years proved particularly difficult. Rights for Switzerland, Austria and the Balkans were lost by family control in the early past decade, with Starbucks buying out the percentage it held in Starbucks-Marinopoulos Holdings B.V. Marinopoulos Holding SARL. The formalization of the "difference" came in late December 2012, with the Competition Commission approving the acquisition of sole control over the "Marinopoulos Coffee Company" by the Luxembourg-based "Marinopoulos Holding SARL" after Starbucks Coffee International left the stock scheme.
Four years later, in 2016, the major crash of the Marinopoulos group came to the food retail, a collapse that led to a complex resolution plan with the Slavenitis group taking over the assets. The "Marinopoulos Coffee Company" was explicitly excluded from that transfer, which was controlled by "Marinopoulos Participations and Business Administration S.A." and continued to operate autonomously.
In the years that followed, the company reached a few times to lose the rights to Greece and Cyprus, with the chronic weight of unperforming loans making its position particularly vulnerable to banks. Yet, every time there was a way out. The most decisive came in 2023, with the renewal of the franchise contract for another ten years until 2033, a vote of confidence from the Americans, which, as it turns out today, was perhaps the last favour they did to the Marinopoulos family.
End of period
Yesterday the conclusion was written. Alshaya group, a family business founded in 1890, with presence in 13 countries, more than 3,500 stores and over 50,000 employees, managing over 50 international brands such as Starbucks, H&M, Foot Locker, Victoria’s Secret, Shake Shack, Primark and Chipotle, announced the acquisition of Starbucks operating rights in Greece and Cyprus, taking over as a new exclusive owner and administrator. The Kuwaiti group is already Starbucks' largest licensed partner worldwide, operating over 2,000 stores in 13 countries.
The new functional entity for Greece will be named "Alshaya Hellas SMSA", while in Cyprus it will operate as "Murgab Cyprus Ltd". The head is Jacqueline Delpippo as a Business Manager Starbucks Greece & Cyprus in the Alshaya Group, with a direct priority being the smooth transition and seamless customer service. Giannis Marinopoulos, who held the position of CEO, returns to the family business.
"We look forward to working with the Alshaya Group to bring Starbucks to even more coffee lovers throughout Greece and Cyprus. I would like to thank the Marinopoulos Group for the long-term and successful cooperation of the last 24 years," said Duncan Moir, president of Starbucks EMEA, pointing out that Alshaya "has the guarantees to further strengthen Starbucks experience in the region and lead it to new successes."
The numbers of a long contradiction
Business numbers - functionally sustainable but financially exhausted - explain in themselves why changing hands was a matter of time.
In 22 corporate uses, the company recorded net profits only in 2018 and 2023, with accumulated losses at EUR 74,532 million at 31 December 2024.
For the use of 2024 in particular, turnover was set at EUR 26,425 million (+2.5%), with a gross margin of 71.1%, an indication of operational efficiency. EBITDA remained positive at EUR 6,325 million, but the financial costs of EUR 4,004 million - mainly capitalised unperforming interest - led to net losses of EUR 795 million. EUR 430 thousand in 2023. Total lending amounted to 31,789m euros, exclusively short-term, at a real rate of 11.8%. The net position remained deeply negative at EUR -36,312 million, while the current assets remained behind short-term liabilities by EUR 43 million.
Now the network of 30 stores in Greece and 18 in Cyprus, with about 500 employees in total, passes to the Alshaya group, with the administration arguing that it will focus on further upgrading customer experience while considering opportunities for further development in the region.
