date:Nov 13, 2012
e of the Starbucks brand.
Alstead also told the committee that Starbucks's Swiss coffee trading unit charged group companies a 20 percent mark-up on coffee beans.
A company spokeswoman said the Lausanne-based unit bought 428 million pounds of coffee beans for an average $2.38 per pound in 2011, suggesting a total coffee bill of over $1 billion and income of more than $200 million for the Swiss unit, which employs 30 people.
Switzerland charges effective tax rates as low as 5 percent for tradi