Costa named the Nation’s Favourite Coffee Shop for its fourth consecutive year

- Costa named the Nation’s Favourite Coffee Shop by leading coffee industry experts Allegra

- 48% of independent consumer panel named the chain as their favourite coffee shop

Costa has been named the Nation’s Favourite Coffee Shop for its fourth consecutive year after industry experts Allegra published their annual Project Cafe13 UK report for 2013. 48% of consumers named Costa as their favourite coffee shop, a figure that has increased by almost 10% on last year’s result. The coffee shop chain also increased its popularity in the typically more competitive London region to 38% naming Costa as their favourite coffee shop an increase of 7% on its previous year’s figure. The coffee shop was also considered the most ethical coffee shop brand in the UK.

Project Cafe13 UK highlights that the UK coffee shop market grew by 6.4% turnover, delivering sales growth of 9.3%. The coffee market segment continues to be one of the most successful in the UK economy and has established itself as a key element of UK society.

The report highlights that the UK is a nation of coffee drinkers: 52% of consumers surveyed maintain their coffee shop visits in the last 12 months. 1 in 5 now visit coffee shops every day compared with 1 in 9 in 2009 Coffee shop visitors drink an estimated 1.7 billion cups of coffee per year in coffee shops

Jason Cotta, Managing Director Costa UK Retail said:

“We are delighted to have been named the Nation’s Favourite Coffee Shop for the fourth consecutive year and to have been awarded the title from an independent panel of coffee shop visitors makes the win all that more significant.

We would like to thank our fantastic team of baristas in showing outstanding pride, passion and personality in what they do to help earn us the Nation’s Favourite title and we will continue to listen to customers, working hard to ensure that they will continue to choose Costa as their favourite coffee shop.”

Jeffrey Young, Manager Director at Allegra commented:

“Costa has performed extremely well this year in Allegra Strategies’ independent research. Britain is now a nation of great coffee drinkers who have unparalleled access to great coffee in part thanks to the rapid growth of Costa Coffee venues throughout the UK.”

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Notes to Editors

(Allegra Strategies are industry experts within the coffee shop market and have been publishing their annual ‘Project Cafe’ report for over 11 years. The question ‘What is your favourite coffee shop? Is asked of an independent panel of 4,650 coffee shop visitors and so is the best representation of overall brand preference.)