How many people, on average, get their coffee from Starbucks every day?

I know there are 6,740 Starbucks stores in the U.S.. I'm not
interested in grocery store sales. I'm not concerned about sales
outside the U.S.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 09 Feb 2005 12:37 PST

Mike,

The only relevant statistic I could find regarding your question is
that Starbucks' revenue from its retail operations in the US in 2004
was $3.7 billion.


Assuming each customer spends $5 per visit, then we have:


$3.7 billion / $5 = 740 million customers per year in the US.


On a daily basis, this comes out to an average of:


740 million / 365 = 2.03 million customers per day


Starbucks operated 4,293 stores in the US in 2004 (where did you come
across the 6,740 figure by the way...the data I've seen clearly
indicate 4,293?].  Therefore, the average number of customers per
store per day is:



2.03 million / 4,293 = 472 customers per day.



Sounds reasonable to me...what do you think?


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by buckinghammike-ga on 09 Feb 2005 13:33 PST

Hi. Thanks for your help. I got the store number by calling Starbucks
directly. Maybe they have an updated number. I wonder what the average
beverage costs...I'm thinking a $5 average may be a little high. The
drink I usually get is among the more expensive at $3.74.

The revenue number is a very good start, though. If you were able to
determine average cost of the beverage we'd be all set.

I was guessing each store may have 500 customers a day, but if the
average beverage is $3.50, is $1,750 a store each day enough to keep
it going?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 09 Feb 2005 14:30 PST

Mike,

Although your question is specifically about coffee, don't forget that
people buy other things at Starbucks, especially sandwiches, snacks,
newspapers, bulk coffee, and even the occasional gift item.

Given these other sales, I do think $5 per customer is a reasonable
guesstimate.  I looked, but have not seen, and published information
about what an actual "average" customer spends at Starbucks.

Also, the 472-500 customers per day figure is an average, and but it
certainly doesn't represent the business of a typical, high-volume,
center-city Starbucks location, where the traffic is considerably
higher than 500 a day, I would think.


Anyway....given where we've arrived at for the moment, what else can I
do for you to provide a complete answer to your question?

 
Let me know,

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by buckinghammike-ga on 09 Feb 2005 15:16 PST

You're right. I did forget about the other items. I'm from Boston and
the stores here are always choked with people. You're right, there are
probably less-visited locations. I expected a higher number, but it
seems you're right.

Thanks. Mike

Hey, MIke.

Thanks for confirming the value of the numbers I presented earlier.

If you haven't already, you might want to take a look at Starbucks'
10K annual report that they filed with the SEC (it is different than
the corporate annual report that they provide to investors).

You can find a copy of it here:


http://ir.10kwizard.com/?source=518


It's the 10K report dated 12/10/2004 that I suggest looking through. 
It's chock full of information and analysis about their operations,
and it may contain information of interest to you, beyond the numbers
that I extracted for my analysis.

Speaking of which, I'm re-posting the analysis as part of this answer,
for the sake of completeness:


----------
The only relevant statistic I could find regarding your question is
that Starbucks' revenue from its retail operations in the US in 2004
was $3.7 billion.


Assuming each customer spends $5 per visit, then we have:


$3.7 billion / $5 = 740 million customers per year in the US.


On a daily basis, this comes out to an average of:


740 million / 365 = 2.03 million customers per day


Starbucks operated 4,293 stores in the US in 2004 (where did you come
across the 6,740 figure by the way...the data I've seen clearly
indicate 4,293?].  Therefore, the average number of customers per
store per day is:



2.03 million / 4,293 = 472 customers per day.
----------



Please don't rate this answer until you are satisified you have
everything you need.  If there's anything else I can do for you on
this, just post a Request for Clarification, and I'm at your service.

Thanks again,

pafalafa-ga



search strategy:  conducted several Google searches for terms related
to Starbucks and its retail customer base, but all significant
information emerged from the 10K report cited above.

Thanks for all your help.  I plan to check out that report.

In a question I answered last year, I cited a quote from Starbuck's
CEO to the effect that the average transaction was "less that $4."


http://answer.google.com/answers/threadview?id=322401