**History and Ownership**:
– Founded by Sergio Costa in Fenchurch Street, London in 1971
– First store opened in Vauxhall Bridge Road, London in 1981
– Acquired by Whitbread in 1995
– Costa opened its 1,000th store in Cardiff in 2009
– Purchased by the Coca-Cola Company in 2019
– Coca-Cola acquired Costa Coffee for $5.1 billion
– Coca-Cola Beverages Africa owns 66.5% of Costa Coffee
– Coca-Cola Europacific Partners has a 19.5% stake
– Partnerships with Coca-Cola FEMSA, Coca-Cola Hellenic, and Bambi
– Former holdings include Beverage Partners Worldwide
**Products and Operations**:
– Costa branches sell hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, cakes, and pastries
– Collaborated with chocolate brands for limited-edition Christmas drinks in 2020
– Moved roastery to Basildon, Essex in 2017
– Employs Gennaro Pelliccia as a coffee taster
– Introduced canned coffee and iced coffee in 2020
– Management faced media scrutiny for unfair deductions from employee pay in 2019
– Costa Coffee franchise workers reported mistreatment and unfair practices
– Costa Coffee operates over 2,400 outlets in the UK and 1,400 outlets in 32 countries
– Costa Express machines were introduced following an acquisition
– Costa Coffee was available in 38 countries with 3,884 locations as of January 2022
**Locations**:
– Costa’s first store outside the UK opened in the United Arab Emirates in 1999
– Costa was the first coffee shop to deliver coffee via drones in 2017
– Headquarters in Loudwater, UK, with the roastery in Basildon, Essex
– Costa Express machines are in various locations including grocery stores and Shell stations
– Costa Express faced controversy over mural art depicting a trans man in 2023
– Costa Coffee Roastery in Basildon, Essex
– Costa Coffee in Dubai Mall of the Emirates
– Costa Express Machine available at SPAR stores
– Costa Coffee Kuwait branch
– Costa Coffee Malta flagship store in Bugibba
**Business Expansion**:
– Costa Coffee opened in Georgia
– Costa Coffee franchise in Vienna, Austria
– Costa Coffee US branch
– Closure of Costa Coffee in Hungary
**Controversies and Media Coverage**:
– Costa Coffee facing boycott over an irresponsible advert
– Defense of a mural featuring a post-op trans man
– Boycott calls over a transgender illustration
– Employees protested unfair training deductions
– Allegations of franchise workers mistreatment
– Telegraph article on Costa Coffee boycott
– Independent’s coverage of the mural controversy
– NBC News report on boycott calls
– Business Insider’s comparison of Costa Coffee and Starbucks
– The Guardian’s report on Costa’s prize sponsorship
Costa Limited, trading as Costa Coffee, is a British coffeehouse chain with headquarters in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, England.
 | |
| Costa Coffee | |
| Formerly | C. B. Costa Bros. Coffee Co. Limited (1976–1997) |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Coffee shop |
| Founded |
|
| Founder | Sergio Costa |
| Headquarters | Loudwater, Buckinghamshire, England |
Number of locations |  3,883 (2018) |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Philippe Schaillee (CEO) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue | £1.168 billion (2016) |
| £153 million (2016) | |
| Parent | The Coca-Cola Company |
| Website | costa |
Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by Sergio Costa as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. It was acquired by Whitbread in 1995, then sold to The Coca-Cola Company in January 2019 in a deal worth $4.9 billion and has grown to 3,401 stores across 31 countries and 18,412 employees. The business has 2,121 UK restaurants, over 6,000 Costa Express vending facilities and a further 1,280 outlets overseas, including 460 in China.
Costa is the second largest coffeehouse chain in the world, and the largest in the UK.