[Alupis]

Gross Profit doesn't matter - it's Net that matters. There's more to a business like Starbucks than just COGS.

Their Net[1] doesn't paint as rosy of a picture as you described. While still a growing organization, the annual YoY growth isn't outrageous.

A smart business will also plan for upcoming expenses - like wage growth, downturn in markets (to sustain hard times), volatile goods cost, ever increasing rent/CRE, upcoming legislation, and more. That's along with all your normal business planning, such as expansion, new marketing endeavors, etc.

This theme... of trying to angle increased prices as pure corporate greed is very misguided.

[1] https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SBUX/starbucks/net...

[falcolas]

> Their Net[1] doesn't paint as rosy of a picture as you described.

Your "not a rosy picture" feels like a weird take on a steady 25% YOY (where not higher, see 2020's 300%) increase in profits (net, not gross). The one outlier was 2021, and ties in directly with the pandemic.

That's ridiculously solid growth that would make any accountant dance in joy, especially in the food service industry.

[Alupis]

How do you think they can sustain growth in bad/volatile/uncertain economies? Raise prices...

Starbucks' NET is down from just two years ago (~2%). If we examine headcount over the past 5 years, you can also see incredible growth there (read: increased costs).

So, we pick a particularly unstellar year for Starbucks then lambast them for doing better the following year. We'd have to dig into their financials deeper to understand why 2022 was so poor in relation to 2021 and 2023... but the cited YoY Net Growth is not unreasonable for a company that has locations in nearly every nation, and access to enormous working capital.

[falcolas]

...This isn't a bad economy. Nor volatile. Nor uncertain.

This is, for businesses, the best economy we've had for years. Why are they being forced to raise their prices again?

As for 25% not being unreasonable, it's about 10% higher than I'd expect to see in the food industry. 25%, especially for a company that basically requires physical locations, equipment, employees, managers, and food supplies (which expires and has a certain percentage of loss automatically) is absolutely phenomenal.

EDIT:

> Starbucks' NET is down from just two years ago (~2%)

No, it's up $100m 2023's $4.29B vs 2021's $4.19.

[Alupis]

$4.125B in 2023 Net Income, $4.199B 2021 Net Income. Reread the linked source.

Additionally, you're playing fast and loose with the "growth" by comparing it to a previously down year. Again, we'd have to dig further to find out why Net Income was down so much in 2022, but essentially 2023 returned to just below 2021 levels. I would not call that spectacular growth by any means, especially when we consider the runaway inflation that has occurred in the meantime.

[leereeves]

> No, it's up $100m 2023's $4.29B vs 2021's $4.19.

Is that adjusted for inflation?