Costa Coffee to enter Bulgaria
Coffee chain Costa Coffee has announced that it intends to enter Bulgaria by the end of 2006, as it joins its rivals in the growing Eastern European coffee shop market,
The company which is owned by British hospitality chain Whitbread, will open it first flagship store in the country’s capital of Sofia, before pushing the brand further into the country next year.
The news comes less than a month after global market leader Starbucks announced plans to establish itself in Russia by 2007 to capture growing demand in the region.
According to research analysts Euromonitor, Costa’s decision to enter Bulgaria reflects a growing demand for specialist coffee shops in Eastern Europe.
In a report into the coffee industry in Bulgaria, coffee was found to be the most popular hot beverage in the country, accounting for 90 per cent of all volume and value sales.
Despite this popularity the coffee shop market still remains relatively small compared to other outlets in the food service industry.
In 2004, Bulgaria had only 703 specialist coffee shops, a figure dwarfed in terms of the numbers of bars and pubs which stood at 22,748. This pattern is beginning to change however, with the number of coffee shop chains almost doubling last year, from 4 brands in 2004, to 7 in 2005.
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