Lavazza, established in Turin, Italy, in 1895, has been owned by the family of the same name for four generations. The world's seventh ranking coffee roaster, Lavazza has a market share by sales of over 36% in Italy, 3800 employees and revenue of €2.24 billion (2019). The company has six production sites, three in Italy and three abroad, and operates through associated companies and distributors in more than 90 countries. Lavazza exports 46% of its production. Lavazza credits itself with inventing the concept of blending, "the art of combining different types of coffee from different geographical areas", in its early years and claims this as a distinctive feature of all its products. The company also has 25 years experience in the production and sale of portioned coffee systems. Today, through ongoing partnerships with an international network of universities and scientific research centers, Lavazza operates four platforms in this segment. In 1979 the company established the "Luigi Lavazza Centre for coffee research" which is "devoted to the study of espresso" and has evolved into the Lavazza Training Centre, a network of over 50 coffee schools worldwide, where 30 thousand people receive training each year.