Costa Coffee Opens Its 1000th Store In Moscow's Pushkin Square
Company Added
Company Removed
Apply to Request List

Costa Coffee Opens Its 1000th Store In Moscow's Pushkin Square

March 26, 2008 // Franchising.com // Costa and OJSC Rosinter Restaurants Holding "Rosinter" today open Costa's 1,000th store in Moscow's Pushkin Square. The opening of this store marks the arrival of Costa Coffee in Russia.

Costa is the UK's largest and fastest growing coffee shop chain and plans to open its 700th milestone UK store next month. It now operates over 300 stores overseas in 22 countries (Europe, the Middle East, China and India).

Rosinter is the leading casual dining restaurant chain in Russia and CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), operating 216 restaurants in 8 countries and 24 cities.

The new joint venture, formed in December 2007, plans to open 200 Costa stores in Russia over the next 5 years, focusing on Moscow and St Petersburg in its first year, then expanding to other Russian regions thereafter. The partners' initial investment is approximately 10 million dollars USA and they also intend to open Costa stores in Ukraine and Belarus at a later date. After the first opening, 11 coffee shops currently operated by Rosinter under its proprietary brand Moka Loka will be converted to the Costa brand.

Russia presents an exciting opportunity for Costa. Over 50% of the 11 million people in Moscow visit coffee shops regularly and to date, there is only one other international coffee brand established in Russia. There is a wealthy demographic of young Russians whose average income is growing by 16% per annum. Increasingly, they are spending a higher proportion of their disposable income in coffee shops. This is the market that Costa aims to capture.

John Derkach, Managing Director, Costa Ltd said: "Costa's arrival in Russia is another milestone on our journey to become a global coffee brand. Rosinter is an ideal partner who brings a wealth of market insight, which will help us to expand quickly, whilst making sure we deliver what Russian customers want. We have studied Russian tastes and have expanded our cake range. We are also working towards introducing a selection of coffee with alcohol."

Rosinter's Chairman of the Board Rostislav Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Blanco added: "The sustained rise in disposable income in Russia has driven the frequency of visits to coffee shops, and the Costa brand will enable Rosinter to obtain far greater returns from this sector. Just three months after establishing the joint venture we have opened our first flagship store and we intend to sustain this pace as we expand in Moscow and further into other cities across Russia."

"High resolution images are available for the media to view and download free of charge from www.vismedia.co.uk"

Izvestia Publishing House (one of the eldest Russian news-papers) was built in the beginning of the 20th century and this is where the first Costa will be opened.

About Costa:

Costa is part of the Whitbread family of brands. Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa founded Costa in 1971. Costa's in-store baristas are all coached in the art of coffee making at the company's unique Costa Coffee Academy based at its own roastery in Lambeth, London.

Costa has won the award for Best International Franchise Operator 2007. Costa has been voted as one of the strongest UK brands by experts and consumers and has been awarded 'Superbrand' status.

Costa set up a registered charity (no.327489) in 2006 called 'The Costa Foundation' to give something back to the communities within the countries from which Costa sources its coffee beans.

About Whitbread:

Whitbread PLC is the UK's leading hospitality company, managing market leading businesses in the budget hotels and restaurant sectors, including Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre, Beefeater and Costa Coffee. Whitbread's strategy is to create value for its shareholders by focusing investment and growth in expanding sectors of the hospitality industry, primarily in the UK but also in selected overseas markets. In the financial year to March 1, 2007, Whitbread generated pre-tax, pre-exceptional profit of £213.0m. Founded in 1742, the company is listed on the London Stock Exchange (as WTB.L) and is a member of the FTSE4Good indices.

About Rosinter:

OJSC Rosinter Restaurants Holding is the leading casual dining restaurant company in Russia and the CIS, which currently (December 11, 2007) operates 216 outlets, including 45 franchised restaurants. In 2006 it served approximately 12.5 million customers in Russia, the CIS and Central Europe, including Baltic countries. The Company offers Italian, Japanese, American and Russian cuisine under its proprietary brands IL Patio, Planet Sushi and 1-2-3 Cafe and its licensed brands T.G.I. Friday's and Sibirskaya Corona. Following the opening of its first restaurant in Moscow in 1990, the Company operates in 24 cities in Russia, the CIS and Central Europe, including Baltic countries. Rosinter reported consolidated revenues of US$ 218.6 million, in accordance with audited IFRS accounts, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2006. Rosinter Restaurants Holding is listed in RTS (www.rts.ru) under the stock ticker ROST.

###

Comments:

comments powered by Disqus
Share This Page

Subscribe to our Newsletters