The Coca-Cola Company bought Costa Coffee for $5.1 billion in January 2019 and has since developed the business, focusing on expansion on the vending and ready-to-drink product segments. Costa Coffee is the leader of the coffee market in the UK, and also has a strong presence in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Costa Coffee has a network of more than 3,700 cafés on more than 30 markets, some of them developed through franchising.
Costa Coffee brand was present in Romania until 2011, when it closed the café in Piata Romana in Bucharest. Coffee Management, the holder of the Costa Coffee franchise in Romania went insolvent in 2010.
Costa Coffee planned to return to Romania with cafés, before the sale to The Coca-Cola Company, market sources told ZF. The development of Costa Coffee comes shortly after Coca-Cola HBC dropped distribution of Lavazza less than two years after the two struck a deal.
The bottler decided to expand on the coffee market because the soft drinks sector is seasonal in nature, with sales peaking during summer, while consumers prefer coffee during winter.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)