The real business Starbucks is in

Kevin Williamson explains Starbucks’ business model in The End Is Near And It’s Going to Be Awesome (which you should definitely buy):

New York City does not have much of a publicly financed public restroom infrastructure as such. What it has is Starbucks, a privately financed public restroom infrastructure with a very successful for-profit coffee chain attached to it. Maybe you don’t think of Starbucks that way, and Starbucks certainly doesn’t think of Starbucks that way, but residents of New York City apparently think of Starbucks that way.