Even with China growing at its slowest pace in 25 years, Starbucks is planning to open more than one new store a day for the next five years in the world's second largest economy.
"I think if you look at the 45 year history of our company ... one of the things that we've done really well is that we've always played the long game," Schultz said in an interview in Shanghai on Wednesday.
By 2021, Starbucks (SBUX) aims to have nearly 5,000 stores across China.
It's been a long road already for the coffee giant in the world's most populous nation, where it opened its first store 17 years ago.
"We had to educate and teach many Chinese about what coffee was - the coffee ritual, what a latte was," Schultz said. "So in the early years, we did not make money."
His critics on Wall Street and elsewhere said Starbucks "was never going to succeed in China," he recalled. But his patience paid off.
"If you look five years ago, most of our business, believe it or not, was expats and tourists in China," he said. "Today, it's mostly Chinese."
Schultz expects China to eventually overtake the U.S. as the company's largest market, although he hasn't said exactly when. (It's already No. 2.)
"We're not in a high tech business, so we're not trying to change behavior in terms of technology," he said.
Other big American brands that had enjoyed years of success selling food and drink in China are now faring less well.
Even with China growing at its slowest pace in 25 years, Starbucks is planning to open more than one new store a day for the next five years in the world's second largest economy.
