• USA Today, Wednesday, March 19, 2008 11:15 AM

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz will announce several "back-to-the-future" changes at today's annual meeting in Seattle including freshly grinding coffee in most U.S. locations so that the stores smell like coffee shops again. "There will be a relentless focus on innovation," he says.

Schultz does not blame the economy for the coffee retailers recent woes, admitting its problems have been "self-induced." Still, more than 45 million customers worldwide buy something from Starbucks every week.

Ten restaurant industry consultants have recommendations for Starbucks, and Schultz has responses to all of them. They are: smell good again; embrace wired youth; reward loyalty; sell unique coffees; get healthier; drop foods that don't jibe with java; sell energy drinks; cut the clutter; revive "coffee theater"; open fewer stores; sell combo meals; give coffee away and, finally, "take a deep breath and chill. "Let's face it," says Katie Paine, a corporate image consultant, "it's still coffee, not brain surgery."

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