Costa Coffee to build US$56 million roastery

Costa Coffee has announced that to support its new growth target it is building an additional roastery in Essex, England. Costa will invest an estimated US$56 million in the new Basildon site, which will operate in conjunction with its existing roastery in Lambeth. “Our existing Lambeth site does not have the long-term roasting capacity to cater for our increasing UK and international demand,” said Christopher Rogers, Managing Director for Costa. “The solution is to build a second roastery in the London area.” For its full-year results, Costa announced a 17.9 per cent lift in sales and a new growth target – to boost system sales from US$2.2 billion in 2014-15 to US$3.9 million in 2020. Costa’s Lambeth facility, which it has been operating out of for more than 30 years, has a capacity of 11,000 tonnes. The new roastery will be able to produce 45 000 tonnes of roasted beans. Costa has its unprocessed beans shipped to the Tilbury Docks in Essex, before they are transported to its Lambeth roastery. It said the new roastery’s location, 22 kilometres from Tilbury Docks, would enhance operational efficiency. Cupper and Master of Coffee, Gennaro Pelliccia, whose job it is to oversee the roasting process and who reportedly insured his tongue for more than US$10 million, said it is important for the new roastery to meet Costa’s high standards. “We will have a cutting-edge roastery supplying the best quality, from bean to cup, right here in the UK,” said Pelliccia. The new roastery is scheduled to open in early 2017. GCR interviewed Costa Coffee's Managing Director of Asia Esteban Liang – click here to read.