Costa Wins Top Coffee Shop Award

By: Costa Coffee | 1 Shares 186 Reads

November 09, 2010 // Franchising.com // Costa Coffee has won the prestigious "Best Branded Coffee Shop Chain in the UK and Ireland" by Allegra Strategies at the European Coffee Shop Awards.

Jeffrey Young, Managing Director and founder of Allegra Strategies, commented , "Costa thoroughly deserve this accolade, following an incredible 35 quarters of like for like growth. They have a clear focus on serving great coffee, backed up by strong marketing campaigns"

John Derkach, Managing Director of Costa, added, "this award is testament to the great people we have in every one of our stores. They strive to make great coffee, and offer fantastic service to all of our customers. It is great that our baristas have received this public recognition from 300 of the most influential leaders in the industry."

2010 was the year that Costa became the nation's favourite coffee store.

With total sales growing at 33% year on year, and like for like sales up 9%, Costa has flourished in a recession which has claimed many victims in the industry.

In a market where purchase has historically been driven by convenience rather than quality, Costa has challenged the way we think, buy and consume coffee.

Led by a focus on continually improving product and service, Costa has employed independent taste tests to demonstrate that those who care about coffee prefer Costa. Now, 35% of the UK's adult population visit Costa – more than any other Coffee chain.

Nominations for the award were made by more than 300 senior industry peers who took part in the Allegra European Coffee Leader Survey in August/September 2010. Findings from the survey are reported in Allegra's Project Cafe 10 Europe, which was published on November 4th.

For more information contact:

Melissa Mace, Costa PR Manager - Melissa.mace@whitbread.com Tel: 07818 581 772 Nicola Andreasen, Paratus Communications - nandreasenparatuscommunications.com Tel: 020 7400 1909

About Costa:

Costa was founded by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971.

Just 1% of the world's production of coffee is good enough for us to choose from. Only the very best coffee available can go into creating the unique taste and aroma of our Mocha Italia blend.

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.

Costa was the first UK coffee chain to control the whole coffee making process from start to finish – we source, store, blend, roast, grind and pour all our own coffee. No one else is involved.

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.

Costa is part of the Whitbread family of brands.

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