Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz won’t say what the Starbucks of the future will look like.
Or taste like. Or even smell like.
But even with his company rolling in record profits and record sales, with 18,000 stores in 62 countries — a time when it might seem like he could sit back and enjoy the results of his 31 years with Starbucks – he admits to having gee-whiz, future plans on the drawing board. Not that the ultra-savvy innovator will publicly discuss them in any detail.
“Sure, we’re doing work now on the store of the future,” says Schultz, whose company’s stock price is near an all-time high and whose market cap is around $43 billion. “It is not only linked to the physical but the digital experience.”