shop founded 1971 london founder bruno and sergio costa headquarters dunstable bedfordshire england number of locations 3 277 2016 area served worldwide key people dominic paul ceo products coffee tea sandwiches and iced drinks . revenue 1.167 billion 2015 16 1 net income 153 million 2015 16 1 parent whitbread plc website costa.co.uk costa coffee is a british multinational coffeehouse company headquartered in dunstable bedfordshire and a wholly owned subsidiary of whitbread . it is the second largest coffeehouse chain in the world behind starbucks and the largest in britain . 2 costa coffee was founded in london in 1971 by the costa family as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist italian coffee shops . acquired by whitbread in 1995 it has since grown to over 3 277 stores across 31 countries . the business has 2 000 uk restaurants over 5 200 costa express vending facilities and a further 1 200 outlets overseas including 383 in china . 1 contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 locations 2.2 costa express 2.3 coffee production 2.4 costa coffee club 3 costa book awards 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit italian immigrant brothers bruno and sergio costa founded a coffee roastery in lambeth london in 1971 supplying local caterers . the family had moved to england in the 1960s . 3 4 costa branched out to selling coffee in 1978 when its first store opened in vauxhall bridge road london . in 1985 sergio bought out bruno s share of the company . bruno went on to found a tableware company . 5 by 1995 the chain had 41 stores in uk . 6 in 1995 the business was acquired by whitbread uk s largest hotel and coffee shop operator becoming a wholly owned subsidiary . in 2009 costa opened its 1 000th store in cardiff . in december 2009 costa coffee agreed to acquire coffee heaven for 36 million adding 79 stores in central and eastern europe . 7 operations edit locations edit a costa coffee branch in forster square retail park bradford a standard costa coffee branch in cyprus costa coffee operates 1 000 outlets in the united kingdom as of may 2016 . internationally it operates 1 200 stores throughout the world in 31 countries 8 the first costa store outside the uk opened in dubai in 1999 9 as well as high street locations costa coffee outlets can be found in airports and within waterstone s bookstores whsmith homebase branches larger next stores marriott hotels odeon cinemas some premier inn hotels waitrose debenhams and tesco stores pizza hut branches beefeater pubs moto and roadchef motorway services and in some hospitals and the manchester primark . 10 smaller sub units are also set up in railway stations and airports throughout the uk . many of costa coffee s branches located in airports cinemas and hospitals are either individual or corporate franchises . costa coffee also has small outlets positioned on out of town business parks often among other food retailers and on site at various businesses . costa coffee currently has branches in many countries . 11 costa express edit following whitbread s 59.5 m acquisition of coffee nation a chain of coffee machines the machines were re branded as costa express . 12 the company plans to expand to target hospitals universities and transport interchanges . 13 these coffee bars will use the same coffee beans as used in costa stores and will use fresh milk . 14 on february 29 2016 costa announced a partnership with shell canada to distribute 150 costa express machines throughout its canadian petrol stations . 15 coffee production edit coffee served in a massimo cup . costa coffee has its own roastery . the blend served in retail stores is their own mocha italia ; it contains a blend of arabica and robusta . costa coffee employs gennaro pelliccia as a coffee taster who had his tongue insured for 10m with lloyd s of london in 2009 . 16 17 costa coffee club edit costa coffee has its own loyalty scheme that is called the costa coffee club . using a loyalty card or an app for android phones or iphones members may gain points which allows them to get free coffee and other goods . points are added whenever a purchase is made and the card or app is presented and swiped or scanned . costa book awards edit main article costa book awards costa coffee has been the sponsor of the costa book awards formerly the whitbread book awards since 2006 . see also edit list of coffeehouse chains coffee portal references edit a b c https www.whitbread.co.uk content dam whitbread pdfs investors reports and presentations annual reports 2015 16 annual report and accounts 2015 16.pdf http miranda.hemscott.com ir wtb pdf annual report and accounts.pdf costa coffee founder my hometown purley has too many coffee shops . croydon advertiser . 16 october 2012 . retrieved 15 february 2015 . costa experience the journey from bean to cup costa coffee . costa coffee . retrieved 6 april 2014 . adams guy 2 may 2013 . the man who founded costa coffee then sold out for a fraction of its value now insists he s not bitter . so ... why does mr costa refuse to drink his own coffee . daily mail . retrieved 15 february 2015 . costa our history . whitbread.co.uk . whitbread . retrieved 15 february 2015 . nick fletcher . flat white froths up costa coffee s fortunes . the guardian . whitbread annual report 2015 16 pdf . whitbread . emirates mall of the . costa coffee in dubai mall of the emirates . park view shopping centre costa coffee . homepage . costa coffee . retrieved 3 august 2012 . growing business success stories costa express scott martin 10 june 2011 zoe wood . coffee nation fast fresh and 2 a cup . the guardian . costa express . costa coffee on twitter . twitter . costa coffee the perfect cup costa coffee taster ten of the weirdest insurance policies . telegraph.co.uk . 9 march 2009 . external links edit media related to costa coffee at wikimedia commons official website v t e whitbread plc subsidiaries and brands current beefeater grill brewers fayre costa coffee coffeeheaven premier inn table table taybarns touchbase former berni inn britvic david lloyd leisure hogshead pizza hut swallow hotels t.g.i. friday s threshers whitbread inns other samuel whitbread whitbread round the world race category v t e food chains in the united kingdom casual dining angus steakhouse ask beefeater grill bella italia brewers fayre byron hamburgers caf rouge carluccio s chiquito damon s ed s easy diner frankie & benny s giraffe gourmet burger kitchen harry ramsden s harvester hungry horse la tasca little chef loch fyne restaurants nando s ok diner pizza hut pizzaexpress prezzo strada table table taybarns t.g.i. friday s toby carvery tony roma s wagamama wahaca wildwood kitchen zizzi fast food barburrito burger king chicken cottage chipotle mexican grill dixy chicken domino s pizza five guys kfc mcdonald s morley s papa john s pizza sam s chicken sbarro southern fried chicken subway taco bell tops pizza tortilla wasabi wimpy yo sushi baked goods auntie anne s cinnabon cooplands ditsch dunkin donuts eat greggs krispy kreme millie s cookies patisserie valerie pret a manger sayers spudulike upper crust the west cornwall pasty company coffee shops and tea rooms amt coffee betty s caff nero caff ritazza coffee 1 coffee republic costa coffee harris hoole starbucks dairy baskin robbins ben & jerry s kaspa s shakeaway pub chains all bar one chef & brewer o neill s scream pubs slug and lettuce walkabout wetherspoons yates s retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title costa coffee & oldid 742600894 categories coffee houses of the united kingdomcompanies based in bedfordshirerestaurants established in 1971dunstable1971 establishments in englandwhitbread divisions and subsidiariesrestaurant chains in the united kingdomcoffee brandshidden categories engvarb from september 2013use dmy dates from march 2015commons category with page title same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged 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