Starbucks partners with Adyen for in-store payments push across 940+ European stores

Adyen has partnered with Starbucks on a project involving its payment infrastructure in Europe and the UK. A European roll-out will span 943 Starbucks stores across the UK, Austria, and Switzerland, supported by 2,375 Adyen payment terminals. 

This expansion builds on a partnership between Adyen and Alsea, Starbucks’ licensee, for which the former powers payments for Alsea Mexico.

Key here is the implementation of Adyen’s Store and Forward functionality. This feature allows customers to continue accepting payments and providing uninterrupted service during network outages.

“Starbucks operates at an extraordinary scale, where every second of uptime matters,” says Alexa von Bismarck, President EMEA at Adyen.

“By moving to a single, unified payments platform, Starbucks has been able to simplify its in-store operations while gaining the resilience needed to serve customers without interruption. From rapid roll-out across hundreds of stores to built-in offline reliability, this partnership shows how modern payments infrastructure can directly protect revenue and elevate the in-store experience.”

“The quality of our coffee and service are at the heart of everything we do, and our technology must be just as reliable,” says John Elliott, VP Technology, EMEA at Starbucks. “Our partnership with Adyen, ensures that our payment technology is just as robust as our service. This stability allows our teams to stay focused on our guests and the coffee they love, without technical issues getting in the way.”

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Payments will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards will open for entries in April. They celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Thursday, 15th October.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.