There are those in the vending business that see the marriage of Costa and Shell as an unholy alliance, but it’s showing no signs of crumbling. In fact, the opposite is true: it’s going from strength to strength.
70 Costa units are added every month…
The new deal comes five years after the partnership began in 2011, when Whitbread acquired Coffee Nation for £59.5 million. Nearly 1,000 Coffee Nation machines were re-branded as Costa Express and since then, 70 units a month have been added to the machine park.
Shell was one of the first partnerships struck by the new brand and on the back of it, Costa Express became available on petrol forecourts all over the country and beyond: these days, the partnership extends to Canada, Poland and the Czech Republic as well as the UK and there are ‘a number of trials’ in other international markets.
‘We’re delighted to be extending our partnership with Shell’, Costa Express MD Murray McGowan said. ‘The brand perfectly complements the Shell forecourt model, providing customers with the best coffee on the go. We’re looking forward to growing our relationship with Shell both in the UK and in our international markets over the coming years.’
Mike Hominick, Marketing Manager of Shell UK Retail told us ‘Shell service stations in the UK serve 5 million customers a week and coffee is now one of our most popular items.’
18 million cups a year
Sales have now reached the level of 18 million cups a year and whilst there are those who rue the Shell / Costa relationship as the vending industry’s ‘one that got away’, the quality that’s delivered via a self-service offer – and the price levels it delivers – has opened doors for canny operators who have developed their own branded, coffee-tower offers.
It’s all down to the power of branding: consumers trust the Costa name and thanks to their positive experiences, they are far more likely to part with a couple of pounds for a drink that they make for themselves – which has to be good news for our industry.
Coffee To Go, as epitomised by Costa at the petrol station, continues to expand and with it, so do the opportunities for premium priced, top-quality vending.
