Like-for-like sales at the Costa coffee chain appear to have been hit by falling footfall on the high street as parent Company Whitbread announces its trading performance this morning.
The group which also owns Premier Inn and restaurant chains including Beefeater, grew 5.6pc in the 13 weeks to November 30 after it opened new hotels and coffee shops but sales at UK locations open more than one year were up just 0.3 per cent, and down by 0.1per cent at Costa.
Whitbread blamed weak sales growth at Costa on falling numbers of people visiting UK High Streets.
However Self-serve Costa Express machines helped keep total sales ticking over for the firm with total revenue from them up 20 per cent in the quarter with more than 1,000 of the ‘on-the-go’ machines installed in nine months last year.
The company said it was pursuing a “strategy to increase our presence in high footfall and convenient locations such as drive-thru and travel locations and we are particularly pleased with the strong performance of Costa Express
