Kevin Johnson, Starbucks chief executive officer, speaks on stage during the Starbucks Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Wednesday March 20, 2019 at WaMu Theater in Seattle. (Starbucks Photo)

Starbucks is entering a “monitor and adapt” stage as it aims to reopen stores in the U.S.

The company will open a “significant” number of coffee shops next month, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said today in a video and accompanying letter.

Starbucks closed stores across the U.S. and Canada in mid-March amid the COVID-19 outbreak, offering drive-through and delivery service only.

Starbucks will follow a similar playbook to its China strategy, where more than 95% of its stores are now open again.

“As was the case in China, this means we will gradually expand and shift the customer experiences we enable in our stores,” Johnson wrote in a letter to employees. “For example, some Starbucks stores will continue as drive-thru only, others may utilize the mobile ordering experience for contactless pickup and delivery and others may reopen for ‘to-go’ ordering. As we experienced in China, this will be a journey and we are thoughtfully preparing for this next phase as we adapt in the U.S.”

Johnson said the reopening strategy is “not a light switch; it’s more of a dial.” Starbucks will make decisions on a community-by-community basis.

The company is following three principles as it deals with the global pandemic affecting stores in more than 80 markets worldwide:

  • “Prioritizing the health and well-being of our partners and customers”
  • “Playing a constructive role in supporting health and government officials as they work to mitigate the spread of this virus”
  • “Showing up in a positive and responsible way to serve our communities”

More than 60% of Starbucks stores in the U.S. have a drive-thru option. About 80% of customers orders were already placing to-go before the COVID-19 crisis.

Starbucks will report quarterly earnings on April 28. The company’s store sales in China declined 64% in March, according to a SEC filing. During the last week of March. U.S. store sales declined 60-70%.

Johnson, the former Microsoft and Juniper Networks executive, is among the members of industry groups created this week by the White House to address the economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak.

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