Costa Coffee

Introduction: Costa Coffee is a British multinational coffeehouse company headquartered in Dunstable, United Kingdom, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Whitbread PLC. It is the second largest coffeehouse chain in the world behind Starbucks and the largest in the United Kingdom.

Costa Coffee was founded in London in 1971 by the Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, as a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. It was acquired by Whitbread in 1995, since when it has grown to over 1,700 stores across 34 countries. The business has 1,375 UK restaurants, 2,500 Costa Express vending facilities and a further 800 outlets overseas.