Jason Cotta, managing director of Costa Coffee UK and Ireland

The Danish bakery, coffee and foodservice chain has a growing presence in London and New York City

Jason Cotta, the former MD UK & Ireland for Costa Coffee, has been named CEO of Ole & Steen.

He replaces Jesper Friis, who has resigned “for personal reasons”.

Ole & Steen is a premium bakery, coffee and foodservice chain that operates in Denmark under the Lagkagehuset brand with 95 stores.

It has a growing presence in London with 11 branches operating as Ole & Steen and three recently opened units in New York City.

The company, which has its own in-house bakery production, has about 3,000 employees and operates a premium format that focuses on high-quality artisanal breads, cakes and pastries as well as other food, teas and coffee.

Cotta worked for Costa Coffee for nearly seven years, working his way up from operations director UK to MD - International EMEA. He resigned earlier this summer so he could take up his new role.

Previous posts have included operations director - international & development at Travelodge, where he worked for more than four years, and TGI Fridays, where he was operations manager for eight years.

Henrik Brandt, Ole & Steen chairman, said Friis had told the board “some time ago” he wanted to resign for personal reasons.

The business had expanded “significantly” under Friis’ leadership. “We have consequently seen impressive growth,” Brandt said.

Cotta, with his considerable industry background “and international profile and experience”, would be able to contribute to the further internationalisation of Ole & Steen, Brandt added.

“Jason Cotta has more than 20 years of extensive management experience with rollout and operation of strong fast-casual brands and concepts in and outside the UK.”

This experience, as well as his focus on a high-quality customer experience and on developing dedicated employees, had convinced the company that Cotta was the right CEO to continue its ambitious plan to make Ole & Steen available to even more consumers in and outside Denmark.

Cotta said he had followed the development of Ole & Steen over the past few years - no least its entry into London.

“I am deeply impressed by the unique market position that Ole & Steen has established in such a short period of time,” he said. “I see a strong concept based on very high-quality products and services with significant potential for further growth and expansion.”