Coffee chain Starbucks Corp. signed a 21-year agreement to give dairy products company Arla Foods license to continue to manufacture, distribute and market Starbucks' ready-to-drink products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, or EMEA.
The new agreement builds on the licensing partnership formed between the two companies in 2010, according to a June 7 release.
"It is our ambition to be a leading provider of milk-based beverages in Northern Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa in 2020 and the new strategic licensing agreement makes the Starbucks partnership a vital part of delivering on this target," Hanne Søndergaard, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Arla Foods, said in a statement.
The dairy products company expects to sell over 110 million Starbucks beverages across EMEA per year. The products are produced at Arla Foods' sites in Esbjerg, Denmark.
