Starbucks in China

Starbucks currently operates barely 200 stores in China, is already profitable at the store level and presents enormous growth opportunities.

Starbucks operates about 8,500 stores in the U.S., and has been opening about 500 new ones a year. Starbucks aims to double that to 1,000 new stores in fiscal 2007.

International growth is where the real money may lie. Currently, Starbucks operates just 3,500 units in 36 countries. But company managers would like to expand that to 15,000 stores outside the U.S., for a total of 30,000 stores worldwide. "The big target of opportunity is in the international market," says Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kron. And the business has become highly lucrative.

Source: USA Today