Costa Coffee: growing globally
Costa (part of the larger Whitbread group) has accrued a number of enviable accolades over the years and can boast equally impressive growth figures to boot. The coffee shop chain recently posted a massive 28.4 percent growth in underlying operating profits, from £52.4 million to £67.3 million. It has set itself the target of achieving £2.5 billion system sales by 2020; we examine how the company will expand globally and deliver a number of strategic initiatives.
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Operations
Costa’s position as the UK’s favourite coffee shop is supported by a large network of outlets, backed up by a rigorously well-organised supply chain. In the past 12 months, it has continued to grow its UK store portfolio taking the total to 1,999 coffee shops and has a further 1,168 spread across 30 countries; its vending machines (known as ‘Costa Express’) have grown by 416 new units, taking the total to over 4,700 globally with the company hoping to roll out another 700-800 machines in the next year.
To get an idea of just how strong its position in the UK market is, you only need look at the number of people using its ‘Coffee Club Card’ which now make up 42 percent of all transactions across its stores—now that’s loyalty! What is more impressive is the fact that as many as 2.7 million people hold one of these cards—just under one in 20 people in the entire UK.
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A major part of Costa’s future growth… To read more about Costa Coffee’s strategic supply chain growth, international operations, and what makes it one of the top 25 Big Companies to Work For, check out the full story in FDF World.
