Starbucks CEO memo lays out single-serve plans

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - STARBUCKS (SBUX.NQ)Corp has "very bold" plans for the fast-growing single-serve coffee market, the CEO of the world's biggest coffee chain said in an internal memo obtained by Reuters on Thursday.

While small, the single-cup coffee segment "is growing faster than any other segment in the global coffee industry," Chief Executive Howard Schultz said in the memo to top executives.

Schultz said he is increasingly being asked about the company's plans regarding Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc , which has patents protecting some of the technology around its K-Cup coffee pods.

"Green Mountain has done a very fine job introducing single-serve brewer technology to the U.S. market. And as a result it has emerged as an early leader," he said in the memo.

"But as I have said, these are very early days, and history has demonstrated time and again that patents alone do not determine market winners-deep customer engagement, best-in-class experiences and quality do," Schultz said.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein, editing by Dave Zimmerman)