Starbucks

Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle's Pike Place Market in April 1971. [1] Founders Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl invested in a retail concept centered on fresh-roasted whole-bean coffee, tea and spices, and the company chose the name Starbucks partly for its association with the seafaring world of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. [1] [2]

The company's coffeehouse model developed during the 1980s. [3] Howard Schultz joined Starbucks in 1982, encountered Milan's espresso-bar culture on a 1983 trip to Italy, and helped test an espresso-bar concept in Seattle in 1984; he founded Il Giornale in 1985. [3] In 1987, Il Giornale acquired Starbucks' assets with local-investor backing, changed its name to Starbucks Corporation, and continued the business as a coffeehouse company. [3]

In fiscal 2025, Starbucks described itself in its Form 10-K as a roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffee operating in 89 markets. [4] The company purchases and roasts coffee, sells handcrafted coffee and tea beverages and food through company-operated stores, and reaches customers through licensed stores and grocery and foodservice channels, including its Global Coffee Alliance with Nestle. [4]

The same filing identifies Starbucks Coffee, Teavana, Ethos and Starbucks Reserve as brands and reported 21,514 company-operated stores as of September 28, 2025. [4] A 2026 proxy statement describes the broader network as more than 40,000 company-operated and licensed coffeehouses, while the 2025 filing lists the corporate principal office at 2401 Utah Avenue South in Seattle. [5] [4]