On a trip to India during Diwali last autumn, Starbucks International CEO Brady Brewer tried a saffron tiramisu, as well as a spicy sandwich with chicken tikka at one of the American coffee-shop giant’s local stores.
“That saffron tiramisu I had in India? I thought, ‘Why aren’t we offering this everywhere in the world? It’s beautiful, and it tastes amazing,’” Brewer marveled in an interview with Fortune ahead of Starbucks’ investor day in New York on Thursday.
In the Netherlands, it’s the stroopwafel that gives Starbucks stores some couleur locale, while in Japan, the matcha tea loaf does the trick. “Local cultures expect their food to be local and something familiar,” said Brewer. “But for coffee, they expect it to be our global product.”
Continuing to strike that balance will be central to Starbucks’ long-term goal of ultimately doubling its presence outside North America to some 40,000 stores. While most eyes are on Starbucks’ U.S. business, which last quarter finally returned to growth on a comparable sales basis after two years, the international division is a nearly $8-billion-a-year business that is growing more quickly, rising 10% in the most recent quarter. (The international division represents about 21% of Starbucks’ total business.)
