New York, Dec 4 - Starbucks Corp is not planning to change its fundamental business strategy, its chief executive said on Thursday, despite a widening economic downturn that has consumers cutting back on premium coffee drinks.
"This is not the time to throw the baby out with the bathwater and say we need to shift our strategy," Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said at an investor meeting in New York.
Analysts gathered at the meeting had said they were looking for more clarity from Starbucks on plans to lower fixed costs and preserve profits as sales fall amid the biggest U.S. financial crisis since the Great Depression.
CFO Troy Alstead said on Thursday that he had found a way to save another $200 million a year, by making labor in stores more efficient, managing waste and making its supply chain more efficient.
That is in addition to the previously announced $205 million in fiscal 2009 cost cuts that will come from closing stores and cutting jobs.
Starbucks said last month it expected sales at established restaurants to decline in the fiscal year ending in September 2009. In fiscal 2008, the company closed 205 out of 600 stores slated to be shuttered by the end of fiscal 2009. It closed 61 Australia restaurants in August.
Starbucks shares were unchanged at $8.64 in early Nasdaq trading.