The travel concession operator is developing a network of licensed 12oz coffee shops across Italy with a focus on high-footfall transport hubs and city centre locations
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2oz’s store at Milan Famagosta metro station | Photo credit: Avolta
Travel concession operator Autogrill has opened its first franchised 12oz store at Milan Famagosta metro station.
Autogrill, part of Swiss-based travel retailer Avolta, said Milan Famagosta is the ideal location for an on-the-go coffee shop format, with over a million passengers and commuters passing through on an average weekday.
The Milan Famagosta store features two walk-thru windows for baristas to serve commuters quickly and seating for just eight customers.
The business will seek to develop a network of coffee shops and kiosks across Italy, focusing on transport hubs and strategic city centre locations.
“The objective is to create a network of strategic sales points where speed of the service becomes a highly competitive and successful resource,” said Luca D'Alba, General Manager Italy F&B, Avolta.
12oz currently operates 30 stores across Italy, nearly half of which are in Milan. 12oz also operates two outlets in Athens following its international debut in Greece in June 2023.
The on-the-go coffee chain has a menu of ‘American-style’ hot and iced espresso-based coffee, as well as teas, juices and frappé.
World Coffee Portal research found that only 4% of Italian coffee shop consumers ordered their coffee to-go last year – significantly lower than many other European markets.
However, the Italian branded coffee shop market is also characterised by low dwell-time – with 40% of consumer surveyed spending less than 10 minutes in-store – and high early morning consumption – with 35% of consumers visiting coffee shops in the busy commuter hours before 10am.
Also seeking to capitalise on take-away coffee consumption, US coffee giant Starbucks has opened a range of coffee kiosks in Italy to accompany its larger-footprint premium stores, while UK coffee and food-to-go chain Pret A Manger entered Italy in May 2023 with a store at Milan Malpensa Airport.
“Signing an affiliation agreement with a player like Autogrill is an important milestone for us and encourages us to continue expanding our brand in a segment like travel, which is so dynamic and cosmopolitan. A founding characteristic of our format is the ability to dispense and serve our products very quickly. In fact, it takes less than 30 seconds to serve a large number of the beverages on our menu,” said 12oz Founder David Nathaniel.
Founded in Milan in 2015, 12oz achieved 34% year-on-year sales growth in 2023 to reach €12.2m ($13.2m). The coffee chain is part of JAB Holding-backed coffee group JDE Peet’s, which also counts Peet’s Coffee, Intelligentsia Coffee and Stumptown Coffee Roasters among its portfolio of brands.
Global travel retailer Dufry unveiled its Avolta rebrand in October 2023 – a move it said would ‘visually and operationally’ unify its $13.8bn merger with Italian travel foodservice group Autogrill.