Costa Coffee
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| Type | Franchise owned by Whitbread |
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| Founded | 1971 |
| Headquarters | Dunstable, England |
| Area served | United Kingdom,South Asia, China, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe |
| Key people | Sergio and Bruno Costa (Founders) |
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Products | hot drinks, particularly coffee, small snacks and soft drinks |
| Parent | Whitbread |
| Website | http://www.costa.co.uk/ |
Costa Coffee is a coffee house company based in the United Kingdom founded in 1971 by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops.
In 1995, the company was acquired by, and is now a subsidiary of, the Whitbread company.[1].
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[edit] History
Bruno and Sergio Costa set up their coffee roastery in Lambeth, London in 1971, supplying local caterers and coffee shops with their slow-roasted blend mocha Italia[2]. Costa branched out to retailing coffee in 1978, when their first store opened in Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, England. Later, they sold the business to Whitbread.
[edit] Costa Book Awards
As of 2006 Costa Coffee is the sponsor of Whitbread Book Awards, which are now called the Costa Book Awards.
[edit] Retail Branches
Costa Coffee operates 893 outlets in the United Kingdom as of May 2009, making it the largest British chain in terms of stores, almost 200 ahead of its nearest challenger, Starbucks.[3] Its outlets can be found in airports and within Waterstone's bookstores, W. H. Smith and Homebase stores, Abbey banks, Marriott Hotels, Empire Cinemas, Tesco, Pizza Hut, Beefeater and in some workplaces[4]. Smaller sub-units are also set up in train stations throughout the UK.
Costa Coffee also has branches in Bahrain, Bulgaria[5][6], China[7][8], Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India[9][10], Ireland, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Pakistan[11], Montenegro, Romania, Russia[12], Serbia, Spain, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates[13]. Their biggest store is located in Dubai and can seat up to 320 people.
[edit] Coffee production
Costa have their own roastery and employ the only three Italian Master Roasters in the UK. The blend served in retail stores is known as "Mocha Italia" and contains six parts arabica beans and one part robusta beans.[14]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Whitbread PLC - hospitality company profiles
- ^ Costa Coffee
- ^ "Coffee Republic in administration". Stand-alone outlets May 2009, Allegra Strategies. BBC News. 7 July 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8138414.stm. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ Park View Shopping Centre - Costa Coffee
- ^ Costa Coffee to enter Bulgaria
- ^ Costa Coffee — to invest 1.5 million euro in cafes in 2008 — Daily News Article
- ^ Whitbread: Costa to launch coffee shop chain in Beijing
- ^ BBC NEWS | Business | Costa Coffee set to open in China
- ^ Costa Coffee eyes lucrative Indian market, to open 300 outlets
- ^ The Hindu Business Line : Costa Coffee on expansion mode; to enhance presence
- ^ MMI joint venture opens first Costa Coffee outlet in Pakistan | MMI
- ^ Whitebread: Costa enters the Russian Coffee Market
- ^ Costa Coffee opens new outlets at Dubai International Airport | Costa Coffee
- ^ Costa Coffee: The Perfect Cup
[edit] External links
- Costa Coffee at Motorway Services
- Costa Coffee website
- Costa Book Awards website
- Costa Foundation website
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