Back in 1983, Howard Schultz [?] the idea of bringing a European­ style coffeehouse to America. People [?] to slow down, he believed ­to "smell the coffee" and enjoy life a little more. The result was Starbucks, the coffeehouse chain that [?] the trend in America of enjoying coffee to its fullest. Starbucks doesn't sell just coffee, it [?] an experience. Howard Behar, Starbucks's interna­tional president, says, "We're not in the business of filling bellies, we're in the business of filling souls."
Starbucks [?] now a powerhouse premium brand in a category where only cheaper commodity products [?] just a decade ago. Starbucks's sales and prof­its [?] like steam off a mug of hot java. Nine million customers [?] the company's more than 2,100 stores each week-10 percent of them drop by twice a day. Last year, Starbucks's total sales [?] at an average of over 34 per­cent; profits [?] 68 percent a year.
Starbucks's success, however, has drawn a full litter of copycats, ranging from direct competitors such as Caribou Coffee to fast-food mer­chants. These days it seems that every­one [?] its own brand of pre­mium coffee. "Drive up to a Mobil gas station and the convenience store has certified organic coffee supplied by Green Mountain Coffee Co.," [?] one analyst. "In the Pacific Northwest, McDonald's [?] a blend from Seattle Coffee Co." To maintain its phenomenal growth in an increasingly over caffeinated mar­ketplace, Starbucks has brewed up an ambitious, multi-pronged growth strategy. Let's [?] the key ele­ments of this strategy: