Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson is confident that his growth strategy is working, and that includes his plans for the U.S. as well as China, where the company is expanding its mobile and delivery plans amid competition from rival coffee shop start-up, Luckin 

Although it already offers Starbucks Delivers, under a partnership with Alibaba, in more than 2,100 stores across 35 cities, it will be in 3,000 stores by the end of fiscal 2019.

"Our team in China accomplished this in only four months, again demonstrating our operational agility," Johnson said in a conference call with securities analysts. "While still in the launch phase, performance to date is meeting our expectations with average delivery time under 20 minutes, higher average ticket and strong trial from existing Starbucks Rewards members."

Starbucks Rewards, which also launched four months ago in China, boasts 8.3 million members. The chain will build on that momentum to offer mobile order and pay to China by the end of fiscal 2019. 

"The strength and relevance of the brand, expansion and performance of our new stores, accelerating comp growth in existing stores, positive progress on Starbucks Delivers, and a phenomenal customer reception to the Starbucks Rewards program are all signs that we are well-positioned for long-term growth in China," Johnson said.

Luckin already has 2,300 units across the country, its popularity didn't stop Starbucks China's comparable store sales from increasing 3% during Q2. Starbucks Corporation, which posted financials Thursday for its 13-week fiscal second quarter ending March 31, also reported that overall global comparable store sales were up 3% as well.

"Starbucks delivered another quarter of solid operating results, demonstrating that our 'Growth at Scale' agenda is working," Johnson said during the earnings call. "We are especially pleased with our comparable store sales growth in our two lead markets, the U.S. and China, where we are also continuing to drive strong new store development with industry-leading returns. With solid first-half financial results, we are on track to deliver on our full-year commitments."

Q2 Fiscal 2019 highlights

• Global comparable store sales increased 3%, driven by a 3% increase in average ticket.
• Americas and U.S. comparable store sales increased 4%, driven by a 4% increase in average ticket.
• China/Asia Pacific comparable store sales increased 2%, driven by a 2% increase in average ticket; China comparable store sales increased 3%, with comparable transactions down 1%.
• The company opened 319  stores in Q2, yielding 30,184 stores at the end of the quarter, a 7% increase over the prior year.
• Consolidated net revenues of $6.3 billion grew 5% over the prior year.
• Consolidated net revenues grew 9% over the prior year adjusted for approximately 3% of net reduction from streamline-driven activities and a 1% headwind from unfavorable foreign currency translation.
•  The company returned $3.2 billion to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends.
•  Starbucks Rewards loyalty program grew to 16.8 million active members in the U.S., up 13% year-over-year

What's up in China?
A key growth area for Starbucks is China, where steep discounting from competition and the chain's aggressive pace of store development must be taken into account, Johnson said. The chain opened 553 stores the last 12 months, representing a 17% annual growth rate. The ultimate goal, however,  is to open 600 stores annually to hit 6,000 stores by 2022.

"While the growth in long-term opportunity of China's specialty coffee category will continue to attract many competitors, our leadership position is underpinned by our brand strength and operating results, which are the key points of competitive advantage in China," he said.

Luckin, valued at nearly $3 billion, in one of those competitors as it plans to double its 2,300 locations by the end of this year and revealed this week that it was planning to take the company public in the United States. 

Johnson isn't worried, however, saying that the brand will win in China for three reasons:

1. The premium quality of its beverages.
2. The third-place experience it creates in each store.
3. The emotional connection that employees have with customers. 

"Each of these points of differentiation is reflected in customer feedback from a recent brand equity survey that we performed annually, which reaffirmed that Starbucks continues to lead across key consumer metrics in the specialty coffee category and is the customers' first choice for away from home coffee," Johnson said.