Record fine for Starbucks. The Seattle chain was in fact ordered to pay a good 2,7 billion dollars to the agri-food giant Mondelez, which belongs to the Kraft group and which employs 1.300 people in Italy working with leading brands in the sector such as Philadelphia, Sottilette, Oro Saiwa, Milka, Halls, Hag, Tuc, Fonzies, Splendid, Ritz, Cipster and Fattorie Osella.
The dispute concerns precisely the distribution of coffee, the main activity of the US brand: in 2010 Starbucks had in fact decided arbitrarily to terminate the coffee supply contract with the Kraft group, accusing him of "failing to fulfill his responsibilities" and deciding to sell his coffee label directly to the various distributors.
However, Kraft argued that the contract, signed in 1998, was for an indeterminate duration and that thanks to the partnership Starbucks had increased its sales tenfold to 500 million dollars in one year. The arbitrator agreed with the largest food company in North America and the second largest in the world after Nestlé: Mondelez is now to receive a record $2,7 billion in settlements.
