Starbucks Coffee Co

Starbucks Corp. will raise the price of drinks by an average of 9 cents a cup to counter higher costs for dairy products and coffee. The increases average 3% and will take effect July 31 at company-owned stores in the U.S., Starbucks said.

Starbucks Corp., which has a bittersweet history mixing its coffee with chocolate, is trying again, this time with Hershey Co. The world's largest specialty coffee retailer said Thursday that it would begin offering Starbucks-branded, coffee-flavored chocolate products in the fall under a deal with Hershey, which has been struggling to perk up flat sales. Executives with both companies said they were eager to respond to customers' growing demand for premium chocolate.

He is 29 years old, a suave world traveler who speaks nearly flawless, American-accented English and enjoys the occasional coffee from Starbucks. As a television news anchor, he has an audience estimated at 100 million and has interviewed hundreds of global business and political leaders, among them Bill Clinton and former General Electric Co. Chairman Jack Welch. From now on, though, Rui Chenggang will be known as the man who drove the baristas out of the Forbidden City.

Starbucks Corp. will promote a movie produced by National Geographic Films as the company tries to expand sales beyond food and drinks. The film, "Arctic Tale," is Starbucks' second movie venture, after last year's "Akeelah and the Bee." The company promotes movies, CDs, DVDs and books to lessen its dependence on lattes and cappuccinos.

There he was, Howard Schultz, the man who turned Starbucks into an empire, sitting in a folding chair, quietly hoping his Sonics could get some scoring off the bench. I had consumed approximately 23 venti white-chocolate mocha lattes during my three-day attempt to track him down. It had cost me many of my last dollars, partial use of my left inferior lung, even my innocence in the eyes of the law. But I'd found him.

Starbucks Corp. said it would replace whole milk with 2% for espresso drinks in all of its U.S. and Canadian stores by the end of the year. Drinks in North America will soon be made by default with the lower-fat milk, but customers can still request whole milk, the company said. Starbucks said it made the switch based on increased requests from customers. A 16-ounce "grande" latte made with reduced-fat milk has 190 calories, compared with 260 calories in one made with whole milk.

Starbucks Corp. agreed to license Ethiopian coffee, ending a dispute over the country's efforts to trademark its beans. Starbucks, which had resisted Ethiopia's bid for a trademark, will license and distribute coffee from the country's Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe regions, the company and Ethiopia's trademark office said. Starbucks last year wanted Ethiopia to seek the type of geographical certification that protects Italy's Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and France's Bordeaux wines.

Chairman Howard Schultz said Wednesday that Starbucks Corp. could add 10,000 coffee shops in the next four years, knocking down speculation that he would slow the chain's expansion. Starbucks, founded in 1971, will double in size within five years, Schultz said at the annual meeting in the company's hometown of Seattle. Starbucks had 13,168 outlets at the end of 2006. Schultz wrote a memo in February that said service had deteriorated and the Starbucks brand was being watered down.

Paul McCartney's next studio album will be the first release from Starbucks' newly formed Hear Music label, a high-profile attempt to bring big-name credibility to the venture. It will be the former Beatle's first release on a label other than EMI Records, the company that started releasing the Fab Four's records in 1962, or one of the affiliates where he's spent virtually his entire career.