Starbucks is an American coffeehouse chain founded in Seattle in 1971 and now the largest in the world, operating more than 41,000 stores on roughly $37 billion in annual revenue.
The company opened as a single storefront near Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971, selling roasted whole beans and brewing equipment rather than prepared drinks. Howard Schultz joined as director of retail operations in 1982 and, after encountering Milan's espresso bars, argued the company should serve beverages and sell the café experience itself. The founders declined; Schultz left, started his own chain, and bought Starbucks outright in 1987, merging the two under the Starbucks name. The company went public in 1992 and expanded from fewer than 200 locations into a global chain over the following two decades.
Starbucks operates through a mix of company-run and licensed stores across dozens of countries, pairing espresso beverages with a packaged-goods business and one of the most heavily used loyalty and mobile-ordering programs in food service. Its scale made the chain a de facto standard for what a coffeehouse looks like, and a recurring reference point in debates over gentrification, labor organizing, and the difference between specialty coffee and commodity coffee.
Brian Niccol became chief executive in August 2024 after leading Chipotle, and launched a repositioning program branded "Back to Starbucks" that pared the menu and re-emphasized the in-store experience. The company reported roughly $37.2 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue and returned to global comparable-store sales growth in its fourth quarter, ending a seven-quarter decline; store count stood at 41,118 as of December 28, 2025.