Costa branches sell hot and cold drinks, sandwiches, cakes and pastries, and snacks. In 2020, the brand collaborated with three Nestlé chocolate brands (Quality Street, After Eight and Terry's) for some of their limited-edition Christmas drinks.
Costa moved its roastery from Lambeth to Basildon, Essex, in May 2017 with an investment of £38 million, increasing their annual coffee-roasting capacity from 11,000 to 45,000 tonnes (12,000 to 50,000 short tons).
In 2019, Costa Coffee committed to sourcing 100% cage-free eggs globally by 2025. Following this, the company has reported that approximately 75% of the eggs used in its global operations are cage-free, with full compliance already achieved in the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2025, the International Council for Animal Welfare (ICAW) started a campaign in support of Costa Coffee's cage-free pledge.
In February 2022, an investigation by BBC's Panorama found dairy cows supplying milk to Costa were being abused on a farm in Wales. Workers kicked and punched cows in the face and stomach, twisted their tails, and hit them with sharp metal shovels. Cows were left to die overnight and medical care was not provided when required.
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In January 2023, an investigation by animal rights group Viva! reported the poor treatment of dairy cows at a farm that supplies Costa and various other customers. The animals were also handled roughly, with one being hit in the udder and others being slapped or having their heads pushed, footage suggested. Costa responded to say they had investigated the supplier and found that it complies with Red Tractor standards on animal welfare.
Costa Coffee employs Gennaro Pelliccia as a coffee taster, who had his tongue insured for £10m with Lloyd's of London in 2009.
In 2020, Costa Coffee introduced canned coffee and iced coffee.
Operations
Management
On 19 August 2019, Costa Coffee attracted media attention due to claims of unfair deductions from the pay of its employees. Costa said contracts for franchise stores were managed by franchisees, and that some staff contracts did have "clauses relating to deductions".
Four days later, additional claims appeared in the media that Costa Coffee franchise workers were "not treated like humans". The report included managers' alleged refusal to pay for sickness, annual leave, or working outside contracted hours, and retaining tips. It cited an anonymous former employee at a store under Goldex Essex Investments Ltd who claimed that almost £1,000 of their holiday pay was deducted from their salary, despite being contracted to work 48 hours a week. The report said that baristas and employees at managerial level had complained about the numerous deductions outlined in Costa Coffee franchisees' contracts. A Costa Coffee spokesperson responded that an independent audit had been launched.
In February 2023, a 13-year-old girl died after drinking a hot chocolate from a Costa in East London. She suffered a severe allergic reaction and died in hospital despite being treated with an EpiPen. The inquest found that there had been a failure of communication between the girls' mother, who ordered the drink, and the Costa staff, causing the drink to be made with dairy milk. It also ruled that training provided to Costa staff on food allergies was not sufficient at the time, only consisting of a "tick-box exercise".
Promotion
In July 2023, a Costa Express van had art depicting a trans man with top surgery scars, as part of a mural designed for Pride Month. The design provoked backlash from gender-critical commentators James Esses, Maya Forstater, and Helen Joyce. Costa defended the art, saying that it "showcases and celebrates inclusivity".
Costa Coffee was the sponsor of the Costa Book Awards (formerly the Whitbread Book Awards) from 2006 to 2022.
Locations
Costa Coffee operates 2,467 outlets in the United Kingdom as of October 2019. Overseas, it operates 1,413 stores in 32 countries. The first Costa store outside the UK opened in the United Arab Emirates in 1999, and, in September 2017, was the first coffee shop worldwide to start delivering coffee via drones.
Costa Coffee's headquarters are in Loudwater in the UK, with the Costa Roastery being located in Basildon, Essex.
The following table shows the amount of stores, when they entered and who they're operated by
Costa Express
Following Whitbread's £59.5m acquisition of Coffee Nation, a chain of coffee machines, the machines were re-branded as Costa Express. The company planned to expand to hospitals, universities and transport interchanges. In Denmark, Costa Express machines are located in Shell stations; they had previously also been in Shell Canada. In the UK, many SPAR grocery stores petrol station stores have Costa Express machines.
World distribution
As of January 2022, Costa Coffee was available on four continents in 38 countries, with 3,884 locations in total.
