Starbucks is opening 12,000 new stores by 2021, the coffee company announced Wednesday.
The new stores will bring the total to 37,000 locations worldwide and will include many locations in the U.S. and China, whose rapidly growing middle class is seen as a growth opportunity, according to USA Today.
Leaders within the coffee chain expect the overall five-year plan to increase revenue by 10 percent annually and earnings by 15 to 20 percent per share.
According to CNBC, many of the new stores will be Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room locations, which will offer premium products made with different brewing methods and artisanal foods made by new Italian food partner Princi, which Starbucks acquired over the summer.
Starbucks also will open new standalone Princi locations that will serve baked goods and pizza, and hope to boost revenue at existing Princi outlets.
Current president and COO Kevin Johnson is slated to become CEO of Starbucks in April, succeeding current CEO of more than 30 years, Howard Schultz, who will become executive chairman. Schultz will oversee the Reserve Roasteries locations and remain involved in the operations of the coffee chain.
Schultz was eager for the chain to expand into China, predicting that Chinese operations will one day overtake U.S. sales due to the size of the population. CEO of Starbucks China Belinda Wong agreed.
“Over the next six years, another 300 million (in China) will also reach the middle class, reaching a total of 600 million people,” Wong said, CBS News reported. “That’s almost twice the population of the U.S.”
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