Costa to enter the Philippines with Robinsons

Earlier on this year we wrote about Costa Coffee’s ambition of further Southeast Asian expansion.

With strong footholds in the nearby countries of Thailand and Singapore, the Whitbread owned company announced back in July that they were “currently in the stage of doing market research” in relation to a hopeful move to the Philippines.

But after scouting around for potential partners and possible locations within the island nation, Costa Coffee has joined up with Robinsons.

The first Costa branded store in the Philippines is expected to open sometime next year.

Discussing the partnership, Robina Gokongwei-Pe, the president and chief executive of Robinsons Retail, said that: “We are excited to bring the [Costa] experience to the Filipinos, and we can’t wait to share our barista’s expertise and passion with. Not only are we offering irresistible coffee but we will be accompanying it with a range of sweet and savoury treats.”

However, the current coffee wave is not just solely focused upon the Western world; it is a global phenomenon that is showing no sign of slowing down. As such, many are predicting that Costa Coffee could find a few stumbling blocks as they continue with their rapid expansion into differing Asian markets.

Andy Marshall, the current managing director of Costa Coffee International Franchise, noted that the company “envisage a significant store opening program over the coming years, which will provide further employment opportunities and a stable infrastructure to continue our growth in the Southeast Asia region.”

At the moment, Costa Coffee has around 2,900 stores, the majority of which are based in the United Kingdom.

But alongside their strong presence in Great British, the UK firm can also be found in mainland Europe, Russia, the Middle East and a number of countries on the Asian continent.

photo: Storm Crypt - Used under creative commons