• Reuters, Tuesday, August 14, 2007 11:15 AM

A lead Starbucks Corp. executive says the company is far from maximizing its potential to sell the coffee chain's branded items to outside retailers.

Items such as coffee beans, ice cream and chocolate already are in some supermarkets and convenience stores, but should be in many more, says Gerry Lopez, president of Starbucks' consumer products group. The main opportunity, according to Lopez, comes from the sales of Starbucks coffee beans, or packaged coffee, to supermarkets where sales of premium coffee are growing at more than 10% a year, in the face of flat to lower overall coffee sales.

Starbucks sold 56 million lbs (25.4 million kg) of packaged coffee at supermarkets and other retailers last year. It sells packaged coffee with joint venture partner Kraft Foods Inc., accounting for about 4% of U.S. market share. Packaged coffees account for about two-thirds of the consumer products group's revenue.

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