What kind of chain is Starbucks described as the world's largest?

Starbucks is described as the world’s largest coffeehouse chain.

The description reflects Starbucks’ global scale: the company operates a vast network of cafés and sells coffee, espresso drinks, teas, cold beverages, pastries, snacks, and packaged products. Its stores serve both everyday customers and people using Starbucks as a place to work, meet, or socialize.

Starbucks began in Seattle in 1971 as a retailer of coffee beans and equipment. Under Howard Schultz and later leadership, it expanded into an international café business built around espresso-based beverages and a standardized store experience. That evolution helped make Starbucks a leading example of the modern coffeehouse chain.

“Coffeehouse chain” is more precise than “coffee company” or “restaurant chain” for this question. Starbucks does sell food and packaged beverages, but its defining retail format is the coffeehouse. It is also not primarily a tea-shop, bakery, or juice-bar chain, even though those products appear on its menus.