Number of the Day

Starbucks Is Planning a Giant Post-Pandemic Expansion

The chain is betting that everyone’s going to rush to the ‘third place’ once there’s a vaccine

Photo illustration, source: JohnFScott/iStock Unreleased/Getty Images

20,000: That’s how many locations Starbucks plans to open in the coming decade, a target laid out by the company in a December investor call, as reported in Bloomberg.

The pandemic has been hard on Starbucks, which offers not just coffee, but also a “third place” to meet and work. With indoor locations limited by Covid-19, Starbucks has had to prioritize drive-thru and curbside pickup locations, as Steve LeVine wrote for Marker in July.

The Uncertain Future of Post-Pandemic Starbucks

But with a vaccine on the horizon, the chain sees bright days ahead and says the worst is over, as sales are already inching back toward normal. Starbucks is already the world’s biggest coffee chain with 33,000 locations; it aims to be at least 60% larger by 2030.

Starbucks is a Grande business aiming to go Venti this decade; that’s not a Tall order.

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