Starbucks to boost number of shops, add more food to menu
Starbucks, looking to the future as its longtime CEO moves to other projects, plans to open 12,000 locations within five years to boost its number of coffee shops worldwide by almost 50 percent.
The Seattle-based chain is also upgrading its menu next year adding soups, gluten-free breakfast sandwiches and a wheat-free cooked egg product. And sometime in 2017, customers will be able to talk to the Starbucks app to order a latte or cookie instead of tapping their smartphones. An app update will use artificial intelligence technology to let customers order by voice and have the app respond immediately with a message.
Starbucks outlined its five-year growth plans to investors on Wednesday, about a week after it announced that Howard Schultz, who has built Starbucks into a global brand with 25,000 locations since joining the company more than 30 years ago, would step down as CEO in April. Starbucks has been facing increasing competition from Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s as those companies offer more specialty coffee drinks.
Starbucks President and COO Kevin Johnson presents during the Starbucks 2016 Investor Day meeting, in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
About 5,000 of the 12,000 stores Starbucks plans to open by 2021 will be in China. The company said again that it expects China to eventually overtake the U.S. as its largest market, but didn’t say when it expects that to happen. Today, there are about 2,500 stores in China and more than 13,000 in the U.S.
Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, right, introduces company President and COO Kevin Johnson during the Starbucks 2016 Investor Day meeting, in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Investors also got to hear from Chief Operating Officer Kevin Johnson, who will replace Schultz as CEO in April. Schultz, who will become executive chairman, stressed again Wednesday that he isn’t leaving the company and will oversee the growth of its high-end Starbucks Reserve Roasteries stores. But he made clear that Johnson will ultimately be in charge.
“He’s got the last word,” Schultz said.
Schultz has said such technology adaptions will become increasingly critical for brick-and-mortar retail businesses to thrive as shopping habits change. Johnson has a technology background, having spent years at companies including Microsoft and Juniper Networks.
Images grabbed from dailymail
