Costa Coffee is one of the most recognisable coffee chains in the UK and has expanded significantly across international markets, including South Africa. The question “who owns Costa Coffee now” most commonly arises because the brand has changed ownership in recent years, moving from a UK-based hospitality group to a major global beverage company.
Costa Coffee is now owned by The Coca‑Cola Company. The global soft drinks group, headquartered in Atlanta in the United States, acquired Costa Limited from Whitbread PLC in a deal completed in early 2019. According to The Coca‑Cola Company’s own corporate announcement, the acquisition of Costa was valued at approximately US$4.9 billion and was completed on 3 January 2019, giving Coca‑Cola full ownership of Costa’s operations worldwide, including its UK and South African presence (as described in Coca‑Cola’s official acquisition news release on coca-colacompany.com).
Before this change, Costa Coffee was owned by Whitbread PLC, a long-established UK hospitality company. Whitbread had purchased Costa in 1995 when it was a relatively small coffee chain, reportedly with only a few dozen stores at that time. Over more than twenty years of ownership, Whitbread oversaw Costa’s major growth phase, during which the brand became a dominant coffee shop chain in the UK. Whitbread’s own corporate history pages and past investor information identify Costa as one of its key brands prior to the sale, alongside its hotel and accommodation business Premier Inn (see Whitbread’s corporate overview on whitbread.co.uk).
In 2018, Whitbread announced that it had agreed to sell Costa to The Coca‑Cola Company, explaining that the sale would allow Whitbread to focus on its hotel and related businesses. Details of the transaction, including shareholder approval and required regulatory clearances, are set out in Whitbread’s formal announcements and circulars to investors hosted on its investor relations pages. These documents confirm that after completion of the transaction, Whitbread would no longer own any part of Costa Limited.
For anyone asking who owns Costa Coffee now, the answer is therefore that Costa Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca‑Cola Company. The post‑acquisition structure is described in Coca‑Cola’s corporate materials, which state that Costa gives Coca‑Cola a significant presence in hot beverages and coffee retail, complementing its existing portfolio of cold drinks and ready‑to‑drink coffee products. Following completion, Costa has been integrated into Coca‑Cola’s business as a separate coffee platform, with Coca‑Cola using the Costa brand for coffee shops, vending solutions, at‑home products and ready‑to‑drink beverages in various markets (outlined in Coca‑Cola’s system and brand portfolio descriptions on coca-colacompany.com).
In the UK, Costa Coffee continues to trade primarily through Costa Limited, a company registered in England and Wales. The company’s registration details can be verified via the UK’s official Companies House register. A search of Companies House records for “Costa Limited” shows that it is incorporated in England and Wales under company number 01270695, with The Coca‑Cola Company listed as its ultimate controlling party, confirming that Costa is now within the broader Coca‑Cola corporate group (as recorded on the public filings available through find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk).
Costa operates thousands of outlets, including company‑owned shops and franchise locations, across the UK. It also supplies Costa Express vending machines in petrol stations, supermarkets and other convenience locations. The brand’s UK consumer‑facing website, costacoffee.com, reflects its current corporate identity under The Coca‑Cola Company’s ownership, including updated brand guidelines and references to Costa as part of the Coca‑Cola system in certain corporate and sustainability information.
In terms of South African relevance, Costa Coffee is present in South Africa through partnerships and licensing arrangements rather than through a large, wholly owned retail estate similar to its UK footprint. The Coca‑Cola Company has a major presence in South Africa and across the wider Southern African region through Coca‑Cola Beverages Africa and other bottling and distribution partners. Corporate materials from Coca‑Cola describe Africa as a key growth region and refer to coffee, including Costa, as an important category in the company’s global strategy to serve a wider range of beverages beyond traditional soft drinks (see The Coca‑Cola Company’s Africa and system overview on coca-colacompany.com). Although detailed store‑by‑store information for Costa Coffee in South Africa is not centrally collated in a single public document, the underlying ownership of the Costa brand and its intellectual property remains with The Coca‑Cola Company globally.
Costa Coffee’s ownership structure means that strategic decisions about the brand, such as international expansion, product development and brand positioning, are made within the Coca‑Cola group. This is emphasised in Coca‑Cola’s investor presentations and annual reports, which refer to Costa as a key component of the group’s coffee and hot beverages strategy, alongside other brands in ready‑to‑drink coffee formats. These materials describe Coca‑Cola’s intention to use Costa’s expertise in high‑quality coffee sourcing, roasting and retailing to develop both in‑store and packaged coffee products around the world, including in markets such as the UK and South Africa.
For individuals or organisations needing precise legal or corporate ownership confirmation, the combination of Coca‑Cola’s own corporate announcements and the statutory filings of Costa Limited in the UK provides authoritative evidence. The acquisition announcement by The Coca‑Cola Company on its official website explains that Costa became part of the Coca‑Cola system when the transaction closed in January 2019. Subsequent annual reports and financial statements filed by Costa Limited at UK Companies House list The Coca‑Cola Company as the ultimate parent undertaking, thereby corroborating the change in ownership and the current corporate control.
Regarding practical contact details, Costa Coffee provides customer service and general enquiries channels through its official website, costacoffee.com, including UK contact options for feedback and store issues. For corporate or investor‑related matters, enquiries about the ultimate ownership and strategic direction of Costa would typically be directed to The Coca‑Cola Company’s corporate offices, whose contact points are listed on coca-colacompany.com in the investor relations and corporate contacts sections. No single, dedicated public contact email or phone number exclusively for questions about the ownership of Costa Coffee could be identified in official corporate materials, and beyond standard customer and corporate contact routes, no public contact details found specifically for ownership‑related queries.
In summary, for anyone searching for who owns Costa Coffee now, the current owner is The Coca‑Cola Company, which acquired Costa from Whitbread PLC in a transaction completed in January 2019. This ownership is supported by official corporate announcements from Coca‑Cola, historic shareholder communications from Whitbread, and statutory filings for Costa Limited at UK Companies House. Costa continues to operate as a major coffee chain in the UK and as a growing coffee brand internationally, including in South Africa, under the strategic direction and ownership of The Coca‑Cola Company.
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