Costa, the Whitbread-owned coffee brand, is to test a new store concept called Costa Fresco in London, which will focus on ramping up its food offerl across breakfast and lunchtime dayparts, M&C has learnt.
The company, which earlier this year teamed up with salad chain operator Chop’d to srock a range of its products across selected stores, plans to test the new concept in a number of locations, the first being Tottenham Court Road in London, which will open early next month.
A Costa spokesperson told M&C: “As the UK’s favourite coffee shop brand, Costa is proud of its handcrafted barista drinks range. We are as passionate about our food as we are our drinks. Costa Fresco is a new store concept from Costa, offering a range of handcrafted food and service developments for our customers at breakfast and lunchtimes.”
At the same time, the group has rebranded its trial Cost to Go site in Moorgate as Costa Pronto. The express format is being tested in selected transport hubs across the capital.
The company, along side other rival operators in the coffee shop space, has been looking at ways to stretch its dayparts, intrioduce new formats and enhance its food offer.
The brand, which grew like-for-like sales in the UK by 4.4% in the six months to 27 August, introduced a range of Chop’d products at six sites across London. This partnership could initially be expanded to up to 30 units and then eventually nationwide.
The move mirrored the partnership between Starbucks and POD, which launched last year and is currently being expanded to 10 sites.
Last month, outgoing Whitbread chief executive Andy Harrison said the company was on track to grow its Costa brand to 2,500 stores by 2020 from its current base of 2,000.
