Costa Coffee could soon be seen in vending machines and pubs as the chain is bought by Coca-Cola
COSTA Coffee could soon be seen in shops and supermarkets as well as "in vending machines, hotels, restaurants, pubs, cafes" after the chain was bought by Coca-Cola.
Whitbread, the beverage giant's owner, has struck a deal to sell the Costa Coffee chain to Coca-Cola for £3.9billion.
The brand was originally bought by Whitbread, which also owns the Premier Inn hotel chain, in 1995 for £19 million when it had only 39 shops.
It now has more than 2,400 outlets and is embarking on overseas expansion.
But its plans for domination don't stop there.
Chief executive of Whitbread, Alison Brittain, told the BBC's Today programme that "you could see Costa absolutely everywhere" in future.
She said this could be "in vending machines, hotels, restaurants, pubs, cafes - in all the places you see Coke today".
In addition, she added that she thought Coca-Cola would use Costa to create "ready to drink, cold brew coffees" - something the chain currently sells in its stores.
This could see Costa Coffee cold-brew drinks available to buy in supermarkets and shops in future.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at shopping insight firm Kantar Worldpanel explained: "This offers intriguing possibilities for the Costa name to appear in new formats, such as chilled variants, and reach a wider audience through Coca-Cola’s well-established distribution network.”
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Earlier this month, Costa revealed its new autumn range including a bonfire-flavoured coffee.
The coffee chain has promised to recycle as many coffee cups as it sells by 2020, in an effort to slash the number sent to landfill sites.
The coffee chain said it would recycle up to 500 million disposable coffee cups a year, and has urged other chains to do the same.
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