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Costa Coffee named the ‘Most Ethical Brand’ in Europe at the annual Allegra Coffee Symposium

London, 2017-Nov-27 — /EPR Retail News/ — Costa Coffee, the UK’s Favourite Coffee Shop, has been awarded the title of ‘Most Ethical Brand’ in Europe at the annual Allegra Coffee Symposium. The award was collected by members of the Costa team at a ceremony in Warsaw on Tuesday 21st November, 2017.

This award was voted for by over 500 trade professionals across the coffee sector, and was a highly competitive category. Costa was up against strong contenders from the independent coffee market, who have already achieved a strong reputation in this area.

The judges recognised Costa for its ambitious and impactful Sustainability programme, called ‘Force For Good’, and highlighted in particular the following initiatives:

  • The opening of the new sustainable Roastery in Basildon, Essex, which was award BREEAM rating “Outstanding” to the 2014 standard with final score of 89.1%
  • The launch of the cup recycling scheme in all UK stores, which recovers and recycles all takeaway paper cups from Costa, competitors and independent
  • The WISE programme, which provides a great opportunity for people to take a progressive journey of self-improvement and personal development with Costa. The programme offers a range of opportunities including Work Experience Placement Employment Placements and Apprenticeships
  • Supporting the Costa Foundation to fund the building of 75 schools, improving the social and economic welfare of coffee-growing communities though education. The Costa has recently celebrated it’s 10th birthday, opening a school in it’s 10th market, Zambia

When collecting the award, Sandy Gourlay, Costa Charity and Communtiy Manager said, ‘This award is incredible recognition for all the work that our teams are doing all over the world to make a positive difference to the environment, and communities near and far’.

About Costa

Founded in London by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971, our quality coffee was the premium choice for boutique hotels and restaurants across the city. Today we continue to roast the original Mocha Italia recipe with our 100% Rainforest Alliance certified coffee remaining at the core of our quality coffee credentials.

With over 2,000 coffee shops in the UK and more than 1,240 in 30 overseas markets, we are the fastest growing coffee shop business in the UK. We’re proud to be the UK’s favourite coffee shop, having been awarded “Best Branded Coffee Shop Chain in the UK and Ireland” by Allegra Strategies for seven years running (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 & 2016).

Our people are the heart of our business and we employ over 30,000 people worldwide, with a target of 5,000 new jobs in the UK by 2020. Last year, we increased Barista pay by c.10%. Our Pay for progression model was introduced in October 2015, and our training rate of £7.20 was launched well ahead of National Living Wage.

As a popular, mainstream food and beverage brand, we can make a positive contribution towards customer health and wellbeing by investing in safe sourcing, new product development and consumer education. Health and wellbeing remains a strategic business focus area and we will continue to evolve our product offer over the coming years. We are working to reduce added sugar in our drinks by 25% by 2020 and will reduce salt in our sandwich range by a further 5% by 2017.

We care about the communities we operate in with our store teams volunteering over 12,000 hours of their time to lend support to over 2,000 local community projects.

Looking after coffee growers is extremely important to us, which is why we established The Costa Foundation, a registered charity with the aim to relieve poverty, advance education and the health and environment of coffee-growing communities around the world. So far, The Costa Foundation has funded the building of 72 school projects and improved the social and economic welfare of coffee-growing communities. For more information, please visit www.costafoundation.com.

Costa is also committed to tackling the UK’s literacy challenge and is proud to have signed the Vision for Literacy Business Pledge 2016. In continuation of this commitment, and inspired by the Costa Book Awards and the ongoing work of the Costa Foundation, Costa launched its inaugural Reading Week in September 2016 in conjunction with over 500 schools across the UK.

For further information, please contact:

Isabella Highett
Costa UK & Ireland Press Officer
Isabella.highett@whitbread.com
+44 (0) 7824081791

Source: Costa Coffee

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