Costa to bring Nation's Favourite to self-service with Costa Express

Costa, the UK‟s favourite and largest coffee shop chain plans to launch a new brand aimed at customers who want great tasting Costa coffee on the go.

"Costa Express‟ will be available from “self-serve coffee bars” located in supermarkets, motorway service areas, railway stations, hospitals and universities and other busy public spaces.

These units will dispense a top quality cup of coffee using fresh milk and freshly roasted coffee beans from the Costa Roastery guaranteeing the great Costa taste enjoyed in over 1800 Costa coffee shops around the world.

With plans for 3000 Costa Express bars in the next 5 years, Costa is confident that there will be huge demand from customers for their new product. 

John Derkach, Managing Director of Costa says: “Costa has transformed the coffee shop business in the UK and has been voted the nation‟s favourite*. Making great tasting coffee available to customers in a hurry is now a major focus for us. Costa Express will deliver on both counts.”

Costa has bought out self-serve coffee bar chain, Coffee Nation, in a deal announced today worth £59.5m. Coffee Nation currently has c.900 „self-serve bars‟ around the UK and provides a perfect platform for developing Costa Express in the coming months.

-Ends –

Additional information:

Costa Express self-service coffee bars will start appearing from June 2011

For more information please contact:
Melissa Mace, Costa PR Manager, 07818 581 772 melissa.mace@whitbread.com
John Rivett, Paratus Communications 07974 085 863 jrivett@paratuscommunications.com

Notes to Editors:
Costa: The UKs favourite coffee shop
*

“Best Branded Coffee Shop Chain in the UK and Ireland" by Allegra Strategies, November 2010
Costa was founded by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971 and is now part of the Whitbread family of brands. 

Costa Coffee was the first UK coffee shop chain to commit to sourcing beans from Rainforest Alliance (RFA)
Certified farms. All Costa coffee comes from 100% RFA certified farms.

The Costa Foundation was set up in 2006 to give something back to the communities within the countries from which Costa sources its coffee beans. The Costa Foundation works with an independent charity partner,
Charities Trust, and is operating under the auspices of Charities Trust‟s registered charity number 327489.

* Source: an independent survey of 16,458 people published in December 2010 by Allegra Strategies 54% voted

Costa their favourite coffee shop compared to 27% who voted for Starbucks. For more information please visit
www.costa.co.uk.