On November 3, the Ambassador of the United States to Switzerland Suzan “Suzi” LeVine visited Thermoplan, the exclusive global contractor for Starbucks coffee machines, located in the Swiss village of Weggis on Lake Lucerne. Having started out in 1974 with only 20 employees, Thermoplan has since grown to dominate significant portions of the international coffee machine market, winning the exclusive global contract in 1999 to replace Starbucks’ traditional espresso machines with automatic machines.