Costa Express celebrates 1st anniversary with 1000th machine

Costa Express is celebrating its first anniversary today with the unveiling of its 1000^th self-serve coffee bar inCharing Cross station.

This milestone puts Costa Express well on track to achieve its target of 3000 machines by 2016, demonstrating phenomenal growth in just one year since Whitbread’s £59.5million acquisition of Coffee Nation on 2^nd March 2011.

Following the acquisition, Costa Express self-serve coffee bars were developed and rolled out from June 2011 in sectors as diverse as forecourts, retail outlets, healthcare and education. This ambitious growth plan has seen existing Coffee Nation machines converted and new Costa Express machines placed at a rate of 20 per week.

Costa Express machines can now be found around theUKin locations such as Moto and Welcome Break service areas, Esso forecourts, Tesco Express stores, plus a growing number of universities and hospitals.  The launch of the self-serve brand has also opened up new customer opportunities in channels such as airports and railway stations.

The strength of the Costa brand combined with the convenience of the new self-serve format has proved a winning combination.  In the last year, Costa Express machines have served over 15 million cups of coffee and those that have been rebranded to Costa Express have seen a 20% increase in the number of cups sold per day.

The Costa Express business has also experienced the busiest period in the company’s history, with more installations in the last year than the previous ten combined.

In addition to the customer benefits, Costa Express has created many new job opportunities and increased its employee headcount by more than 30% with the generation of new roles in engineering, customer service and account management.  These roles are focused on supporting the rapid growth of the customer base and managing increasing demand for the Costa Express offer.

Scott Martin, chief executive of Costa Express said: “We knew there was a demand for high quality coffee on the go and were confident that combining our tried and tested technology with the nation’s favourite high street coffee  would be successful -- but the results one year on are remarkable.

“There are now a thousand more locations across the country where people can get a cup of great Costa coffee on the go, in customer segments and areas of theUKwe’ve never previously been able to reach.”

For more information please go to http://www.costa-business.co.uk/costa-express/