12,000 new cafes part of Starbucks’ 5-year global plan

Seattle-based Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop chain, said Wednesday that it plans to add 12,000 locations globally in the next five years.

The target includes expanding to 5,000 cafes in China. The global goal would bring Starbucks’ total store base to 37,000, a 48 percent increase from its current level.

The plan shows that Starbucks — which has increasingly relied on mobile technology, food and its premium Reserve brand to fuel revenue gains in recent years — thinks that it still has room to grow. The responsibility for executing on the initiative will largely fall to Chief Operating Officer Kevin Johnson, who’s taking over the chief executive officer role from founder Howard Schultz in April.

“These are the early days of the growth and development of the company,” Schultz said during a presentation to investors.

Shares rose $1.32, or 2.3 percent, to close Wednesday at $58.76 in New York. Starbucks had fallen 4.3 percent this year through Tuesday amid concern that its growth may slow.

The company also laid out financial targets for the next five years. Revenue will rise by 10 percent a year, earnings per share will expand 15 percent to 20 percent, and comparable-store sales will increase by a mid-single-digit percentage.

Driving those gains will be an increased emphasis on food, a category where Starbucks projects it can double growth. The company is introducing new items next year, including Sous Vide Egg Bites and a gluten-free

breakfast sandwich. Sales of the chain’s existing breakfast sandwiches have doubled in the past four years.

On the digital front, Starbucks is adding a “conversational ordering system” powered by artificial intelligence to its mobile app.

“There’s so much more growth, so much more opportunity, leveraging technology, leveraging innovation, and you can see that come through in what we do,” Schultz said.