Howard Schultz on Reinventing Starbucks

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Earlier you said to me, the media has made such a huge deal about all of Starbucks' competition. So tell us straight out what the story is here. Have you been hurt by the premium coffee sold at McDonald's (MCD) or by Dunkin' Donuts getting more aggressive?

First off, I don't think there's premium coffee being sold at those fast-food places. Second, this is not about the competition. Our customers are not buying a hamburger and fries and then going to get espresso. That's not the case. What is the case is that there's a downturn in the economy. As a result, people are coming in less often than they did a year ago. But we control our own destiny. And what we strongly believe is if we take care of our customers, produce the kind of product that is distinctive, and exceed their expectations, we're going to be in great shape. But we're going to couple that with relentless innovation that you'll begin to see in the marketplace in the months ahead.

You've expanded everywhere. Give us a sense of where the growth is. Is there anywhere you are not right now?

We're still not in Italy, though we'll get there at some point. But the headline is that we've opened almost 5,000 stores in 44 countries since 1996, and I think what's most exciting for us, whether we're talking about China or the rest of Asia or Western Europe, or most recently Prague, is the relevancy and the acceptance of the Starbucks experience across the board. I think people underestimate how large the opportunity is internationally. In 2009, for the first time we'll open more stores internationally than we will open in the U.S.

What happened to your crusade for universal health care?

We were the first retailer in America to provide comprehensive health care to every employee, including part-timers. I've been fighting for health care for Americans for quite some time and have been to Capitol Hill a number of times. Obviously, [we're in] a Presidential election year, and there's not going to be much done until there's a new Administration. But if there's one thing that I think is the fracturing of the humanity of America, it's the fact that 50 million Americans do not have health insurance.

Has anything surprised you particularly since you came back as CEO?

This is hard to do.

Maria Bartiromo is the anchor of CNBC's Closing Bell .