How coffee chains like Costa lost the matcha generation

Lucy Williams enjoyes a icy strawberry Matcha after going to her sister’s first haircut.

Orum I feel that strawberry Matcha is coming out with your sister rather than a daily thing, or he says.

But you can’t get any matcha on a icy strawberry Matcha – or Costa Coffee.

Lucy is at BLANK Street Coffee, a Rainbow Matcha drinks won a chain Famous fans are followed by cult, including Mollie-Mae Hague and Sabrina Carpenter.

Lucy drinks coffee at home every day, but she buys a cup of barista at any time.

“There are some places I will go for coffee,” he says not on the Costa list.

Costa’s owner Coca-Cola is reported to sell the chain. An analyst claims that he could go to £ 2 billion. – Less than half of £ 4.9 billion he paid in 2019. So is something going wrong?

Coffee and tea drinking trends vary, especially between young generations, when combined with analysts and higher coffee prices and the cost of life prints in general, chains such as Costa are in hot water.

However, before expanding in New York, Washington and Boston, it is not empty street that starts as a small coffee car in a Brooklyn restaurant garden in 2020. He opened his first London store in 2022, and now about 35 more in Manchester, two in Birmingham and the two in Edinburgh.

Popularity was partially directed by Tiktok attractiveness, fans order their videos in mint freshly decorated cafes or free tattoo -up events.

For the Australian travelers Bree Taylor and Rebecca Trow, both 27, Blank Street, Tiktok’da pastel -colored beverages after seeing the London -to -do lists.

Rebecca, “We saw him and ‘we should go there’ we were. We saw and we came here especially. We wanted to try,” says Rebecca.

24 -year -old Lauren Nicholson and 27 -year -old Jordan Brookes were retreated to the café for brightly -colored Matcha, each costly under 5 pounds.

Jordan said he started to drink Matcha about two months ago and now he was “hook”.

It is not the only one – Matcha craze around the world Bright green japanese tea is drying ingredients And demand prices are increasing.

Costa’s rivals Threw a trend with Starbucks and offered a icy matcha Latte and Nero a strawberry and vanilla ice Matcha Latte.

And this is not just a London thing – viral chains Gail and black sheep coffee With cafes throughout the UK – the second is the Green Matcha Waffle.

As an affordable treatment, searching for a new luxury drink is a trend that has emerged since Covid and continues to grow as the cost of life remains high.

Aj Bell’s financial analysis President Danni Hewson said, “If you think of a lot of Gene Z, they look at Matcha, they look at the days, it’s healthier. Late young people, caffeine drinks don’t drink.”

Traditionally, Matcha It is thought to contain antioxidants and that normal coffee is thought to have a caffeine effect with “high” and “accident”, but there are some discussions about proven health benefits.

In addition to standard coffees, Costa serves various frappés and fruit cooler, but they contain syrups and can be filled with whipped cream that may not appeal to the green fruit juice whisks that live clean between us.

With the increasing popularity of home coffee machines, chains should find special reasons to get customers through the door.

Clive Black, Vice President of Independent Investment Group Shore Capital, says Costa is not the only brand fighting with the changing England Coffee Market.

Authorized, smaller chains and artisan independent stores as well as the “share of large chains”, he added.

Young people gradually care about spending choices – Lauren and Jordan, often avoid large coffee chains in favor of supporting smaller businesses, but also because of their tastes about their taste.

And when a coffee can cost you the best part of £ 5, you expect something you can’t do.

“This is not a flat latte treatment, this is a necessity,” he says, Clare Bailey, the founder of the independent retail analyst and retail champion.

“I feel like businesses who do not redesign themselves and do not respond to consumer behavior and maybe complaining a little, those who get into trouble.”

James Quincey, General Manager of Coca-Cola, confessed to an investor call last month, Costa was thinking about how we might want to find new ways to grow in the coffee category, not where we want to be “where we want to be”. “

Costa began in 1971 as a London roasting, and since then it has expanded to more than 4,000 stores and operations in 50 countries. It is an important feature of many high streets in small towns throughout the country.

In the financial year of 2023, Costa reported an income of £ 1.2 billion in the latest report, but inflationist prints, including increasing goods, energy and wage prices, said that the loss of activity of £ 14 million.

Now, according to Coca-Cola, Reuters and Sky News reports, it works with Investment Bank Lazard to explore coffee chain options, including a potential sales. Clive from Shore Capital is not clear why Coca-Cola bought Costa in the first place.

Costa, Coca-Cola and Lazard were approached for a comment.

According to World Coffee Portal, now there is a 11,450 branded coffee chain output in the UK 9,800 years ago.

And the number of independent coffee shops rose from 11,700 to 12,400 in the last five years.

With a lot of options, the competition is warming up to attract customers. While 47 -year -old Mimoza Emsa is drinking Costa, now she’s always going to Pret because she has a subscription that offers a discount.

“Really suitable. One of the things that convince me to drink coffee here, or he says.

Costa and similar chains are not as fast and cheap as a GregGS or McDonalds coffee, but also does not offer high -level experience when we want to treat ourselves.

“We have seen all this road retailers are fighting because neither something nor the other.”

Despite these shifts, Costa still has loyal customers.

37 -year -old Rafik Khezmadji says he came to Costa because he is close to work, but he likes to sit outside and enjoy his coffee.

Orum I enjoy taking this moment to myself, or he says.

Coffee in Costa for a 20 -year -old fashion business student Megan Penfold “is not the worst and not the best”. He stopped in a café on Wigmore Street in London for a quick black coffee.

“Trends do not affect me much. I love what I love, or he says.