What does the Starbucks renaming in Russia mean for coffee beans origin?
Starbucks sold its Russian assets, and the new owners applied on August 12 to Rospatent for the name Sturbucks plus three trademarks: Stars Pinskiy Coffee, Stars Kanokov Coffee and Stars Coffee. Rapper Timur Yunusov, caterer Anton Pinsky and Sindika, tied to Senator Arsen Kanokov, now run the chain, which planned a mid-August opening and a media event on August 16.
The naming still matters even after the split, because coffee beans origin stays on the cup long after a sign changes. Registration filings list no single winner yet, and an early logo idea involving a Lego bear and a signature was dropped for thermal printing. The episode shows how brand identity and sourcing are treated as separate questions in a rebranded chain.
After Starbucks' assets in Russia changed hands, the naming of the new brand has drawn attention. On August 12, the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent) received applications for the name Sturbucks (not a typo) and three trademarks, with the final name yet to be determined. Previously, rapper Timur Yunusov, along with Anton Pinsky, owner of the catering company Pinskiy&co, and Sindika, a company under Senator Arsen Kanokov, jointly acquired and managed Starbucks' assets in Russia. The new brand was planned to open in mid-August and to be opened to the media on August 16. They had considered using a Lego bear as the logo and incorporating the singer's signature, but later switched to thermal printing due to the workload. This article reviews the sequence of events, the trademark options, and netizens' reactions.
On August 12 local time, the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property revealed that it had recently received applications for the name of the Sturbucks (not a typo) coffee chain and three trademark registrations, though it is currently impossible to determine which option will become the final trademark.
Prior to this, Russian rapper Timur Yunusov suddenly announced on his Instagram account that he had teamed up with the owner of the well-known Russian catering company Pinskiy&co and Sindika, a company under Russian Senator Arsen Kanokov, to acquire Starbucks' assets in Russia and would jointly manage them.
In his post, Timur Yunusov also mentioned that he planned to run this brand better than the globally famous "mermaid" brand across the ocean, and invited Russian netizens to join in naming the new brand and designing a new logo.
According to RBC, the name Sturbucks was proposed jointly by Timur Yunusov and catering company owner Anton Pinsky.
In addition, Pinsky intends to register three trademarks in his own name at the same time: Stars Pinskiy Coffee, Stars Kanokov Coffee, and Stars Coffee.
Subsequently, the Russian Business Council (RBC) confirmed with the company responsible for producing these three trademarks that these applications were indeed submitted by the brand's new managers, but did not specify which option would become the final trademark. However, this did not affect the finalization of the brand's opening date.
When neither the name nor the logo had been decided, the rapper had already stated in his post that the new brand's coffee chain would open in mid-August. Now that there are candidates for the name and logo but no decision on which to use, the new brand's coffee chain has been confirmed to open to the media on August 16.
It is worth noting that there were earlier reports that the rapper and the catering company owner originally wanted to design a logo completely different from Starbucks. They initially planned to use a Lego bear as the new logo and change the concept of the existing coffee chain, turning it into a place for the singer to meet fans, with each cup of coffee bearing the singer's autograph. But considering that the workload would increase significantly later, they decided to switch the signature to thermal printer printing.
So why wasn't the Lego bear ultimately used as the logo? Probably because the senator did not agree. As for the new logo of this coffee chain brand, Russian netizens' views are as follows (all via Google Translate).
Image source: Internet
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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
