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Starbucks enters the new year in strong shape, having increased sales at its existing stores by another 5% in 2016. But 2017 marks a crucial transition year. There will be changes at the top of the company, and Starbucks will have to manage ambitious international expansion plans. After shares fell 6% in 2016, here’s what Starbucks investors should be watching in 2017.

1. Can anyone but Howard Schultz manage Starbucks successfully?

CEO Howard Schultz nurtured Starbucks from a small Seattle chain to a global behemoth that has successfully convinced people to pay approximately twice as much as they really should for coffee. It’s a particularly stunning achievement given that the coffee is just okay.

Schultz is an expert manager – expanding to the right locations at the right times, creating a consistent customer experience throughout the Starbucks empire, and integrating technology better than any other bricks and mortar retail executive. Can anyone fill Schultz’s shoes? Kevin Johnson, a tech veteran who is now Starbucks’ Chief Operating Officer, will take over in April. Schultz will focus on opening new high-end Starbucks stores, a promising but small new experiment. Investors are wise to be skeptical.

2. Is Starbucks about to over-expand again?

After a hiccup in the mid-2000’s when Starbucks expanded too quickly and cannibalized its own sales, the company cut back. But it’s back in expansion mode again, particularly overseas. In the past year, Starbucks opened 2,042 net new stores and expanded to seven new countries, including Kazakhstan and Cambodia. In the next five years, they’re looking to add 12,000 more stores on top of the 25,000 they already have. That includes 4,700 in the U.S. But in the most recent quarter, traffic at existing Starbucks’ stores in the U.S. fell 1%. Is this really the best time to be opening new stores?

3. Can food and cold drinks become the coffee chain’s growth engine?

Starbucks expects that cold drinks will make up 50% of its beverage sales by 2021, up from 35% in 2013. And the company has big plans to expand its food offerings. But will people really buy soup or pizza at Starbucks? Or will the company merely dilute its brand, and eventually its margins?

Big Picture: Starbucks is back in expansion mode, with new executives at the helm. That makes 2017 a key transition year for the global coffee chain.