Costa Coffee

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Costa Coffee
Type Subsidiary
Industry Hospitality
Founded 1971 (London)
Founder(s) Bruno and Sergio Costa
Headquarters Dunstable, England, United Kingdom
Area served United Kingdom, South Asia, China, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe
Key people John Derkach
(Managing Director)
Jason Cotta
(Acting Managing Director of Costa Retail UK)
Products Hot drinks, particularly coffee, small snacks and soft drinks
Operating income £340.9 million (2009/10)[1]
Parent Whitbread PLC
Website http://costa.co.uk

Costa Coffee is a British multinational coffeehouse company headquartered in Dunstable, United Kingdom, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Whitbread PLC. It is the second largest coffeehouse chain in the world behind Starbucks and the largest in the United Kingdom.[2]

Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by the Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. It was acquired by Whitbread in 1995, since when it has grown to over 1,700 stores across 28 countries.[3] The business has 1,375 UK restaurants, 2,500 Costa Express vending facilities and a further 800 outlets overseas.

Contents

History [edit]

Bruno and Sergio Costa founded a coffee roastery in Lambeth, London in 1971, supplying local caterers and coffee shops with their slow-roasted blend Mocha Italia.[4] Costa branched out to retailing coffee in 1978, when its first store opened in Vauxhall Bridge Road, London.

In 1995 the business was acquired by Whitbread, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. In 2009 Costa celebrated the opening of its 1,000th store - in Cardiff. In December 2009, Costa Coffee agreed to acquire Coffee Heaven for £36 million, adding 79 stores in central and eastern Europe.[5] By the end of 2010 the company had overtaken Starbucks in the UK, reaching a 37.6% market share measured by revenues.[6]


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Operations [edit]

Locations [edit]

A branch of Costa Coffee in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom
A branch of Costa Coffee in Karachi, Pakistan

Costa Coffee operates 1175 outlets in the United Kingdom as of January 2011, making it the largest British chain in terms of stores. Internationally it operates 442 stores throughout the world in 28 countries.[7]

Costa Coffee outlets can be found in airports and within Waterstone's bookstores, WHSmith, Homebase branches, Marriott Hotels, Odeon Cinemas, Waitrose and Tesco stores, Pizza Hut branches, Beefeater Pubs, Moto and RoadChef motorway services and in some hospitals.[8] Smaller sub-units are also set up in railway stations and airports throughout the UK. Many of Costa Coffee's branches located in airports, cinemas and hospitals are either individual or corporate franchises. Costa Coffee also has small outlets positioned on out-of-town business parks, often among other food retailers, and on site at many of the UK's leading companies. Its largest branch is located in Dubai and can seat 321 people.

Costa Coffee currently has branches in the following countries (year of market entry shown in parentheses):[9]

Costa Express [edit]

Costa Express is a new concept created by a coffee chain of self-service coffee bars. Following Whitbread's £59.5m acquisition of Coffee Nation - a chain of coffee machines - the 900 Coffee Nation machines will be replaced and re-branded as Costa Express.[10] Costa have plans to expand Costa Express to 3000 locations. Coffee Nation are currently mostly located within Tesco stores and motorway service areas. Costa plans to target hospitals, universities and transport interchanges. [11] These coffee bars will use the same coffee beans as are used in Costa stores and will use fresh milk. Prices will be from £1.95. [12]

Coffee production [edit]

Coffee served in Costa's signature Massimo cup, which is reserved for large orders.

Costa Coffee has its own roastery and employ the only three Italian Master Roasters in the UK.[citation needed] The blend served in retail stores is known as "Mocha Italia" and contains six parts arabica beans to one part robusta beans.

Costa Coffee employs Gennaro Pelliccia as a coffee taster, who had his tongue insured for £10m with Lloyd's of London in 2009.[13][14]

Costa Book Awards [edit]

Main article: Costa Book Awards

Costa Coffee has been the sponsor of the Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Book Awards) since 2006.

Controversies [edit]

In 2011 it was reported that two Costa Coffee outlets in Bristol had opened without correct planning permission. An investigation into whether a third Costa coffee shop in north Bristol opened without the correct planning permission was launched in January 2012.[15]

The planning appeals against the refusal of planning permission and enforcement action were upheld by an independent government appointed Inspector on 14th August 2012, who also awarded full costs against Bristol City Council in relation to one of the stores. The decision received criticism from councillors across the political spectrum.[16]

In 2012, Costa faced opposition by a majority of its residents to its plans to open an outlet in Totnes, Devon. However, an open letter was issued by Costa in conjunction with local authorities to state that because of the unique nature of the town and local pressure it had decided to pull out. [17]

Also in 2012, residents in Southwold tried to campaign against the opening of a Costa coffee shop in their town. Planners turned down the original planning application by Costa, but controversially, awarded planning permission on appeal.[18]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Whitbread Annual Report 2010
  2. ^ http://miranda.hemscott.com/ir/wtb/pdf/Annual_Report_and_Accounts.pdf
  3. ^ Whitbread PLC - hospitality company profiles
  4. ^ Costa Coffee
  5. ^ The Guardian 4 March 2010
  6. ^ Caterer and Hotelkeeper 14 January 2011
  7. ^ http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.35069
  8. ^ Park View Shopping Centre - Costa Coffee
  9. ^ "Homepage". Costa Coffee. Retrieved 3 August 2012. 
  10. ^ Growing Business Success Stories - Costa Express: Scott Martin 10 June 2011
  11. ^ Guardian - Whitbread self serve coffee machines
  12. ^ Costa Express
  13. ^ Costa Coffee: The Perfect Cup
  14. ^ The Telegraph 9 March 2009
  15. ^ "Investigation into third Bristol Costa coffee shop". BBC News. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012. 
  16. ^ Bristol 247 News 15/08/2012"Councillors’ anger at green light for Costa Coffee shops"
  17. ^ Guardian 15/08/2012 "Totnes: the town that declared war on global capitalism"
  18. ^ See http://www.lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/southwold_costa_coffee_campaign_dealt_blow_1_1403930

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Costa Coffee


Casual dining
Fast food
Baked goods
Coffeehouses and tea rooms
Dairy
Pub chains
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