One of the bolder initiatives Starbucks announced during last week's quarterly conference call was that 60 percent of the 1,500 new U.S. locations the barista-tended chain plans to open through the next five years will have drive-thru windows.
The world's biggest coffee chain is asking employees at cafes in the Washington, D.C., area to scribble the words "Come Together" on cups for drink orders on Thursday and Friday. CEO Howard Schultz says it's intended as a message to lawmakers about the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations.
It may feel like Starbucks shops are everywhere, but apparently there's still plenty of real estate left to conquer. Over the next five years, it will add 3,000 stores in the Americas, 1,500 of them in the U.S. But its global plans are just as ambitious.
Another Starbucks may soon pop up near you. The world's biggest coffee company says it's planning to add at least 1,500 cafes in the U.S. over the next five years. That upbeat expansion plan marks a shift from Starbucks' recent predictions of slower growth.
Starbucks plans to switch its processing of debit and credit card payments to mobile payments start-up Square, the two companies said Tuesday, in a deal will help establish two-year-old Square as a bona fide player in the industry.
Last Friday, Starbucks announced it will build a new factory in Georgia -- and it's hardly the only big company moving manufacturing back to the U.S. Call it insourcing, reshoring or whatever you like, but bringing jobs home is starting to look like a trend.
On the verge of bankruptcy last fall, the American Mug and Stein Company got a new lease on life, courtesy of Starbucks. In part, it's Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz trying to support U.S. employers. But he's getting a lift from the simple economics of labor.
Disney is making the food at its theme parks more healthful, and in 2015, it will begin applying nutritional standards to the foods advertised on its networks. Is this good-nutrition shift altruism, or just smart marketing? CEO Robert A. Iger says it's both.
When the new Verismo coffeemaker shows up later this year, java buffs will be able to make Starbucks-quality espresso, cappuccino and latte beverages at home. But will the fancy European coffee drinks it'll crank out really be as good as Starbucks? Starbucks probably hopes so.
With McDonald's and Starbucks both trying to suck up Jamba Juice's smoothie business, some investors might have worried about how the smaller chain would compete. But as its latest positive profit report shows, the competition has turned out to be healthy for Jamba.
Retailers are spicing up their brick-and-mortar stores to keep you walking through the door. Their game plan? To design environments that are equal parts high-tech and homespun. But will the changes be enough to keep physical stores from being reduced to showrooms for e-commerce sites?
More Americans are waking up to the idea of citizen consumerism -- a fitting topic on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when our thoughts turn to social consciousness. Could the concept of making more of our purchases purposeful go mainstream in the same way that the green buying movement has?
Starbucks has long been a master at getting people to overpay for something they could consume much more cheaply at home. Now the company hopes to pull off that neat profitable trick once more, this time with juice.
Election season is coming, and politicians across the spectrum are already hunting for campaigns contributions. But with the vast majority of political donations coming from lobbies, corporations, and the wealthy, does it make sense for average taxpayers to contribute?
On Tuesday, Starbucks launched "Create Jobs for USA," a program to raise loan funds for small businesses. We talked to CEO Howard Schultz about his concerns about gridlock in Washington, unemployment, the need for a sense of solidarity, and the role of corporate leaders in getting America out of this downturn.