Costa Coffee has become the latest high street coffee chain to open cafés in Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
Costa plans to open 11 new concessions within Sainsbury’s stores by the end of 2024. The first opened on 15 February at Sainsbury’s Farlington Superstore in Portsmouth.
The coffee chain plans to invest £3m in the rollout, which will create an anticipated initial 100 new jobs.
It adds to Sainsbury’s existing café tie-ups with Starbucks, and with Greggs, launched last year. Over the past three years, the supermarket has been gradually replacing hundreds of its in-store Sainsbury’s cafés with third-party concessions, under the initial phase of CEO Simon Roberts’ cost-cutting plan Save to Invest.
It has also seen the supermarket partner with Boparan Group to launch new restaurant hub formats in some of its larger stores.
The retailer also currently has more than 1,000 Costa Express machines across its supermarkets and petrol stations, and stocks several of Costa’s retail ranges.
Costa – which was acquired by Coca-Cola in 2019 – also has retail partnerships with Tesco Express, Morrisons Daily, Spar and regional Co-ops. It also stocks a a range of M&S’s own-label food in its franchise cafés as part of an agreement signed in 2021.
“We know that customers like the convenience of being able to stop for a drink, snack or sit-down lunch while they’re doing their shopping, and we think that Costa Coffee stores will offer a fantastic opportunity to do this within Sainsbury’s supermarkets,” said Richard Crampton, Sainsbury’s director of fresh food.
“That’s why we’re delighted to be building on our existing collaboration with Costa Coffee to roll out this fantastic new option for customers in our stores over the next year and we’re looking forward to hearing what they think.”
Nick Ridley, property director at Costa Coffee, said: “We are excited to join forces with Sainsbury’s, bringing our much-loved Costa Coffee experiences to shoppers nationwide. We’re proud that we will soon be able to make a difference to customers looking to catch up with friends and family over lunch or enjoy a beloved Costa coffee after their weekly shop.”
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