for other uses see starbuck . starbucks corporation starbucks headquarters at starbucks center in seattle washington type public traded as nasdaq sbux nasdaq 100 component s & p 500 component industry coffee shop founded march 30 1971 ; 45 years ago 1971 03 30 pike place market elliott bay seattle washington u.s.a founder jerry baldwin zev siegl gordon bowker headquarters 2401 utah avenue south seattle washington u.s. number of locations 23 768 1 2016 area served worldwide key people howard schultz chairman and ceo kevin johnson president and coo products coffee beverages smoothies tea baked goods sandwiches revenue us 5.24 billion 2 2016 operating income us 54.29 billion 2 2016 total assets us 10.752 billion 3 2014 total equity us 5.272 billion 2 2014 number of employees 238000 4 2016 subsidiaries starbucks coffee company ethos water evolution fresh hear music la boulange bakery seattle s best coffee tazo teavana torrefazione italia website www.starbucks.com starbucks corporation is an american coffee company and coffeehouse chain . starbucks was founded in seattle washington in 1971 . today it operates 23 768 locations worldwide including 13 107 170 in the united states 2 204 86 in china 1 418 12 in canada 1 160 2 in japan and 872 in south korea bumping united kingdom from 5th place differences reflect growth since jan 8 2016 . 1 5 starbucks is considered the main representative of second wave coffee initially distinguishing itself from other coffee serving venues in the us by taste quality and customer experience while popularizing darkly roasted coffee . 6 since the 2000s third wave coffee makers have targeted quality minded coffee drinkers with hand made coffee based on lighter roasts while starbucks nowadays used automated espresso machines for efficiency and safety reasons . 6 7 starbucks locations serve hot and cold drinks whole bean coffee microground instant coffee known as via espresso caffe latte full and loose leaf teas including teavana tea products 8 evolution fresh juices frappuccino beverages pastries and snacks including items such as chips and crackers ; some offerings which once including their pumpkin spice latte are seasonal or specific to the locality of the store . many stores sell pre packaged food items hot and cold sandwiches and drinkware including mugs and tumblers ; select starbucks evenings locations offer beer wine and appetizers . 9 starbucks brand coffee ice cream and bottled cold coffee drinks are also sold at grocery stores . starbucks first became profitable in seattle in the early 1980s 10 and despite an initial economic downturn with its expansion into the midwest and british columbia in the late 1980s 11 the company experienced revitalized prosperity with its entry into california in the early 1990s . 12 the first starbucks location outside north america opened in tokyo in 1996 ; overseas properties now constitute almost one third of its stores . 13 the company had opened an average of two new locations daily between 1987 and 2007 . 14 contents 1 history 1.1 founding 1.2 sale and expansion 1.3 expansion to new markets and products 2 corporate governance 3 products 3.1 tea 3.2 coffee quality 3.3 other products 4 locations 4.1 current 4.2 licensed locations 5 store count 5.1 former 5.2 unbranded stores 5.3 automated locations 5.4 facilities 6 advertising 6.1 logo 6.2 partnerships 7 parodies and infringements 8 environmental and social policies 8.1 environmental impact 8.1.1 recycling 8.2 coffee and farmer equity practices 8.3 fair trade 8.4 ethos water 8.5 food bank donations 9 controversy 9.1 market strategy 9.2 labor disputes 9.3 war on christmas 9.4 opening without planning permission 9.5 protests 9.6 the way i see it 9.7 us military viral email 9.8 gun controversy 9.9 same sex marriage 9.10 european tax avoidance 9.11 chinese windfall controversy 9.12 racetogether marketing campaign 10 music film and television 11 see also 12 references 13 further reading 14 external links history edit interior of the pike place market location in 1977 founding edit the first starbucks opened in seattle washington on march 31 1971 citation needed by three partners who met while they were students at the university of san francisco 15 english teacher jerry baldwin history teacher zev siegl and writer gordon bowker . the three were inspired to sell high quality coffee beans and equipment by coffee roasting entrepreneur alfred peet after he taught them his style of roasting beans . 16 the company took the name of the chief mate in the book moby dick starbuck after considering cargo house and pequod . 17 bowker recalls that terry heckler with whom bowker owned an advertising agency thought words beginning with st were powerful . the founders brainstormed a list of words beginning with st . someone pulled out an old mining map of the cascade range and saw a mining town named starbo which immediately put bowker in mind of the character starbuck . bowker said moby dick didn t have anything to do with starbucks directly ; it was only coincidental that the sound seemed to make sense . 18 the starbucks store at 1912 pike place . this is the second location of the original starbucks which was at 2000 western avenue from 1971 to 1976 . the first starbucks store was located in seattle at 2000 western avenue from 1971 1976 . this cafe was later moved to 1912 pike place ; never to be relocated again . 19 during this time the company only sold roasted whole coffee beans and did not yet brew coffee to sell . 20 the only brewed coffee served in the store were free samples . during their first year of operation they purchased green coffee beans from peet s then began buying directly from growers . sale and expansion edit in 1984 the original owners of starbucks led by jerry baldwin purchased peet s. 21 during the 1980s total sales of coffee in the us were falling but sales of specialty coffee increased forming 10 % of the market in 1989 compared with 3 % in 1983 . 22 by 1986 the company operated six stores in seattle 22 and had only just begun to sell espresso coffee . 23 in 1987 the original owners sold the starbucks chain to former employee howard schultz who rebranded his il giornale coffee outlets as starbucks and quickly began to expand . in the same year starbucks opened its first locations outside seattle at waterfront station in vancouver british columbia and chicago illinois . 24 by 1989 46 stores existed across the northwest and midwest and annually starbucks was roasting over 2 000 000 pounds 907 185 kg of coffee . 22 at the time of its initial public offering ipo on the stock market in june 1992 starbucks had 140 outlets with a revenue of us 73.5 million up from us 1.3 million in 1987 . the company s market value was us 271 million by this time . the 12 % portion of the company that was sold raised around us 25 million for the company which facilitated a doubling of the number of stores over the next two years . 25 by september 1992 starbucks share price had risen by 70 % to over 100 times the earnings per share of the previous year . 20 in july 2013 over 10 % of in store purchases were made on customer s mobile devices using the starbucks app . 26 the company once again utilized the mobile platform when it launched the tweet a coffee promotion in october 2013 . on this occasion the promotion also involved twitter and customers were able to purchase a us 5 gift card for a friend by entering both tweetacoffee and the friend s handle in a tweet . research firm keyhole monitored the progress of the campaign and a december 6 2013 media article reported that the firm had found that 27 000 people had participated and us 180 000 of purchases were made to date . 27 28 expansion to new markets and products edit the first starbucks location outside north america opened in tokyo japan in 1996 . 29 starbucks entered the u.k. market in 1998 with the 83 million 30 usd acquisition of the then 56 outlet uk based seattle coffee company re branding all the stores as starbucks . in september 2002 starbucks opened its first store in latin america at mexico city . currently there are over 500 locations in mexico and there are plans for the opening of up to 850 by 2018 . 31 in 1999 starbucks experimented with eateries in the san francisco bay area through a restaurant chain called circadia . 32 these restaurants were soon outed as starbucks establishments and converted to starbucks cafes . in october 2002 starbucks established a coffee trading company in lausanne switzerland to handle purchases of green coffee . all other coffee related business continued to be managed from seattle . 33 in april 2003 starbucks completed the purchase of seattle s best coffee and torrefazione italia from afc enterprises for 72m . the deal only gained 150 stores for starbucks but according to the seattle post intelligencer the wholesale business was more significant . 34 in september 2006 rival diedrich coffee announced that it would sell most of its company owned retail stores to starbucks . this sale included the company owned locations of the oregon based coffee people chain . starbucks converted the diedrich coffee and coffee people locations to starbucks although the portland international airport coffee people locations were excluded from the sale . 35 in august 2003 starbucks opened its first store in south america in lima peru . 36 in 2007 the company opened its first store in russia ten years after first registering a trademark there . 37 in march 2008 they purchased the manufacturer of the clover brewing system . they began testing the fresh pressed coffee system at several starbucks locations in seattle california new york and boston . 38 graph showing the growth in the number of starbucks stores between 1971 and 2011 24 in early 2008 starbucks started a community website my starbucks idea designed to collect suggestions and feedback from customers . other users comment and vote on suggestions . journalist jack schofield noted that my starbucks seems to be all sweetness and light at the moment which i don t think is possible without quite a lot of censorship . the website is powered by salesforce.com software . 39 in may 2008 a loyalty program was introduced for registered users of the starbucks card previously simply a gift card offering perks such as free wi fi internet access no charge for soy milk and flavored syrups and free refills on brewed drip coffee iced coffee or tea . 40 in 2009 starbucks began beta testing its mobile app for the starbucks card a stored value system in which consumers access pre paid funds to purchase products at starbucks . 41 starbucks released its complete mobile platform on january 11 2011 . on november 14 2012 starbucks announced the purchase of teavana for us 620 million in cash 42 and the deal was formally closed on december 31 2012 . 43 on february 1 2013 starbucks opened its first store in ho chi minh city vietnam 44 45 46 and this was followed by an announcement in late august 2013 that the retailer will be opening its inaugural store in colombia . the colombian announcement was delivered at a press conference in bogota where the company s ceo explained starbucks has always admired and respected colombia s distinguished coffee tradition . 47 in august 2014 starbucks opened their first store in williamsburg brooklyn . this location will be one of 30 starbucks stores that will serve beer and wine . 48 in september 2014 it was revealed that starbucks would acquire the remaining 60.5 percent stake in starbuck coffee japan that it does not already own at a price of 913.5