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Tag: Costa Coffee

  • Coca-Cola closer to sale of Costa Coffee – reports

    Coca-Cola closer to sale of Costa Coffee – reports

    The Coca-Cola Company is said to have received a bid from Bain Capital’s Special Situations division for its well-known café chain, Costa Coffee. Established in London in 1971 by brothers Bruno and Sergio Costa, the business started as a wholesale operation providing roasted coffee. The coffee chain caught the attention of Whitbread, which acquired the business in 1995. Later, in 2018, Costa Coffee was sold to The Coca-Cola Company for roughly £3.9 billion, equivalent to approximately US$5.1 billion at the time of the transaction.

    Bain Capital’s Bid

    The Special Situations unit of Bain Capital, which has previously invested in British bakery and café chain Gail’s as well as restaurant chain PizzaExpress, has proposed an initial bid for the UK-based coffee chain. Besides Bain, private equity firm TDR Capital has also expressed interest in the deal.

    Costa Coffee’s Global Presence

    Costa Coffee has grown significantly since its establishment, expanding its presence to over 50 countries. It currently maintains more than 2700 stores across the UK and Ireland and operates in more than 1300 locations in other global markets.

    Challenges Amidst the Pandemic

    Despite its global reach and popularity, Costa Coffee has grappled with increasing costs and a decline in consumer spending due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The café chain reported an annual loss of £13.8 million and revenues of £1.2 billion in 2023.

    Bain Capital’s Recent Acquisitions

    Bain Capital has a history of acquiring food and beverage establishments. For instance, the firm purchased the restaurant franchise growth platform Sizzling Platter in July, which operates several well-known brands such as Little Caesars, Wingstop, and Dunkin’.

    Questions & Answers

    Who initially founded Costa Coffee and when was it established?
    Costa Coffee was established by brothers Bruno and Sergio Costa in London in 1971.

    Who submitted a bid for Costa Coffee?
    The Special Situations unit of Bain Capital has reportedly submitted a bid for Costa Coffee.

    What financial impact did the Covid-19 pandemic have on Costa Coffee?
    Due to the pandemic, Costa Coffee has faced a decline in consumer spending and rising costs, resulting in an annual loss of £13.8 million in 2023.

  • Costa Coffee enters Japan with three stores planned to open

    Costa Coffee enters Japan with three stores planned to open

    UK coffee chain Costa Coffee has expanded its presence into Japan under a joint venture dubbed Sojitz Royal Cafe between Sojitz Corporation and Royal Holdings.

    The chain’s first location in Japan was launched in the Shibuya district, featuring the brand’s signature design that uses Costa Red and Costa Pink accents. The store opening will be followed by the brand’s second store in Otemachi in September and its flagship store’s launch in Ginza the following month.

    Sojitz Royal Cafe, established in January, acquired the exclusive franchise rights of Costa Coffee in Japan earlier this year.

    Founded in London by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971, Costa Coffee has more than 4000 stores across 45 countries.

    Further reading, Japan’s % Arabica set for franchised European expansion in next year.

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  • Costa Coffee exits Singapore after closing last store

    Costa Coffee exits Singapore after closing last store

    Just days after Costa Coffee announced it was to be bought by Coca-Cola, UK cafe chain Costa Coffee has confirmed it is exiting Singapore.

    During the last 13 weeks Costa Coffee Singapore has closed six stores in the city and its two remaining outlets will close imminently: Holland Village (September 7) and VivoCity on Sunday week.

    Costa Coffee launched in Singapore in 2012, and has a presence in other Asian markets including Cambodia and Vietnam (where it has one store at Danang Airport).

    A spokesman for Costa Coffee Singapore said: “We are committed to remaining within the South-east Asia region and have ambitious plans to grow the Costa brand.” He said the decision to exit Singapore was made early this year.

    An unnamed employee of Costa Coffee Singapore said that high rents were behind the decision to close the stores,

    However, Esther Ho, director of the School of Business Management at Nanyang Polytechnic, said international coffee chains were struggling in Singapore because they were not focused enough on “experiences” that helped to justify premium prices.

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  • Costa Coffee China sales grows

    Costa Coffee China sales grows

    UK’s Costa Coffee says sales in China have underpinned solid growth in its Asian operations.

    Costa has 459 stores in China, where sales rose 4.9 per cent in the first half year as Chinese continue to boost their coffee consumption.

    The company plans to open a further 100 stores in China before Christmas and is expanding its range to suit local tastes, after items such as Cold Brew and Character Roast performed well.

    Costa is also steadily expanding its network in other Asian markets, including Singapore where it has about 10 outlets, and Cambodia.

    Globally, Costa Coffee achieved a 5.2 per cent rise in first-quarter sales, helped by new store openings and the popularity of its Costa Express machines. However, like-for-like sales in its UK home market fell 2 per cent, reflecting the challenges faced by most retailers on high streets currently.

    Costa’s parent, brewer Whitbread, is considering options to spin the business off in a separate listing, but has reportedly since been courted by private equity firms seeing an opportunity to grow the business internationally.

    TPG, Bain Capital and CVC could pave the way for a sale of the brand realising as much as £3 billion.

    In the UK, Costa Coffee has 2467 stores, a mix of company-run and franchised stores. As it encounters trouble on high street locations, the company is shifting focus to high-traffic locations such as airports and petrol stations.

  • Costa Coffee takes the cream as Britons wake up to coffee

    Costa Coffee takes the cream as Britons wake up to coffee

    Converting a nation of tea drinkers to coffee will be a tough job. But it has been done before. In 1995, when UK conglomerate Whitbread bought CB Costa Brothers Coffee from Sergio and Bruno Costa, tea was the UK’s favourite hot drink. “At home, people drank instant. If you were lucky, you’d get a filter coffee or a shot from a Rombouts machine in a pub or restaurant,” said Bob Tyrrell, who did extensive market research at the time. Costa had just 41 shops then, turning over £55m. Whitbread thought the market might be worth £600m a year, and paid about £20m for Costa. Two decades later it has more than 2,000 outlets, making it the UK market leader by some distance.

    Total revenue from the country’s 24,000 coffee shops and cafés is estimated by Allegra World Coffee Portal at more than £9bn. This week, Whitbread bowed to pressure from two activist investors and confirmed it would demerge Costa from its other activities — but not before it has set the company up for a big push into China, another country with a long tradition of tea-drinking. Costa aims to have total annual sales of £2.5bn by 2020, with a third of them coming from overseas. Drinking good coffee became a preoccupation of the connoisseur British consumer of the late 1990s. “It wasn’t so much keeping up with the Joneses as keeping away from them.

    People wanted to consume things they could talk about,” said Mr Tyrrell. Other factors were at work, too: disposable incomes were growing, low-cost airlines meant more people were experiencing “proper” coffee in mainland Europe and workers were starting to abandon breakfast in favour of food on the go.

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  • Costa Coffee buys out south China partner Yueda

    Costa Coffee buys out south China partner Yueda

    British high-street chain Costa Coffee has taken full ownership of its south China business after buying out partner Yueda.

    Costa previously held 51 per cent of their JV, buying the balance of shares for RMB310 million (US$47 million), giving it total control of 252 stores.

    The deal is part of the group’s plans to expand overseas, says Alison Brittain, chief executive of Costa’s parent company Whitbread.

    “We have enjoyed an excellent partnership with Yueda over the past 10 years, together beginning to build the Costa brand in this key market,” says Brittain. “The coffee shop market in China is highly attractive, with a compelling opportunity for Costa to grow its presence over the longer term.

    “This acquisition gives us full strategic and funding flexibility to unlock Costa’s potential in China.”

    Meanwhile, the company says it remains fully committed to its partnership with BHG in northern China.

  • Costa Coffee Vietnam makes debut at airport

    Costa Coffee Vietnam makes debut at airport

    Costa Coffee Vietnam has made its debut with an outlet at Da Nang International Airport.

    The outlet has been opened by British multinational coffeehouse company’s global partner, Italian catering company Autogrill.

    Costa Coffee says the store is part of its expansion in Southeast Asia. It opened a store in Jakarta last month, with a second to open in the next few months.

    For Vietnam, the menu includes its range of blended iced drinks and creamy Frostinos, such as the Double Chocolate Cookie Mocha. There are also Costa classics such as salads, toasties and sandwiches, European and Southeast Asian cakes, desserts and healthy treats.

    “Costa is all about great people and great handcrafted coffee,” says Costa Coffee Southeast Asia head Matt Kenley.

    Founded in London in 1971, Costa has more than 2200 coffee shops in the UK and more than 1200 in 29 international markets.

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  • Robinsons Retail plans P5 billion ($106m) store roll-out

    Robinsons Retail plans P5 billion ($106m) store roll-out

    The company’s planned capital expenditures in 2016 is a 59 per cent increase from the P3.1 billion it spent in 2015.

    Robinsons Retail said expects to reach more than 200 stores in 2016 and would continue to explore merger and acquisition opportunities.

    “We have also gotten into a good start this 2016 with solid same-store sales growth for the first two months of the year as we benefited from increased consumer spending from a still robust domestic economy. We will continue with our footprint expansion, with focus on areas outside Metro Manila Looking for potential mergers and acquisition continues to be part of our strategy in growing the business,” said Robina Gokongwei-Pe, Robinsons Retail president and CEO.

    Convenience stores and supermarkets will represent a bulk of the planned new stores.

    The retail firm currently operates 10 retail formats under six business segments, including department stores, supermarkets, home improvement stores, convenience stores, drug stores and specialty stores. As of end-2015, it was operating 1506 stores with total GFA of 974,000 sqm.

    The company entered the coffee shop business with the opening of Costa Coffee shops in several locations in Metro Manila last year.

    It also ventured into smaller-format stores like Robinsons Easymart for supermarket and Robinsons Townville for community mall to reach a wider market.

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  • Costa Coffee Manila opens

    Costa Coffee Manila opens

    The first of five Costa Coffee Manila cafes has opened its doors, marking the British-headquartered coffee chain’s Philippines debut.

    Costa, the world’s second largest dedicated coffee chain behind Starbucks, has opened in Eastwood City Mall in Quezon City, metropolitan Manila.

    Four more cafes are planned by the year’s end in Bonifacio Global City, Robinsons Ermita, Tera Towers and Robinsons Antipolo.

    The Eastwood City Mall cafe is spread over two floors and features distressed timber fittings, and a sofa upholstered with the Union Jack to reflect the brand’s heritage.

    For its Philippines entry, Costa has partnered with Robinsons Retail Holdings, which owns the Robinsons Department Store, supermarket, Handyman, True Value, Toys ‘R’ Us, and Daiso retail banners in the Philippines.

    Costa Coffee has over 3000 stores worldwide, including 1800 in the UK and 400 in the Middle East.

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