Starbucks Plans More Caffeine For China

During Starbucks' recent investor conference, the company announced plans for even greater China growth.

"Strong fundamentals and customer demand provide the company with the foundation to accelerate growth into established markets, such as Canada and Japan, and new or emerging markets such as China, Brazil, India and Russia," said John Culver, president of Starbucks Coffee International. "We are particularly pleased with the response we're seeing from our Chinese customers, and expect to operate at least 1,500 Starbucks stores in Mainland China by 2015."

Concluding the conference, Starbucks chief financial officer Troy Alstead added, "Starbucks has reached a critical juncture as we move from a high unit growth specialty retailer focused on coffee in our stores, to a global consumer company with diversified growth platforms across multiple channels. We are intent on capturing a larger share of coffee consumption, reaching consumers wherever and whenever they want great coffee."