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Costa Coffee releases rainbow cups to celebrate Pride

12 Jun 2018 Brand

Costa Coffee Rainbow Cup Group

Pride kicks into gear at Costa Coffee with limited edition cups ahead of national marches

The nation’s favourite coffee shop, Costa Coffee, is proudly displaying its true colours with the launch of the first ever limited-edition rainbow coffee cups to celebrate Pride across the UK.

With Costa Coffee a founding partner of GLOW (Gay Lesbian Out at Whitbread) the activity has strong support from staff, with many Costa team members taking part in Pride parades across the country for the third year running.  

GLOW is a group of over 1,000 members that champion equality and inclusion in the workplace, ensuring all employees feel strong and supported in the company, no matter their background or personal preferences. This reflects Costa Coffee’s commitment as an employer that provides equal opportunities and inclusivity to give colleagues courage and pride in who they are. 

The limited-edition Pride cups will be available for a short time in selected stores across the UK* in Edinburgh, Essex, London, Glasgow, Brighton, Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff – with Edinburgh and Chelmsford first to proudly offer them from today. Available a week ahead of and on the day of Pride marches in each location, the cups help to spread the messages of celebration and inclusivity.  

The cups are fully recyclable and ordered in place of the red for each store to reduce waste.  

Jason Cotta, Costa Coffee’s Managing Director UK & Ireland commented: “Our all new rainbow cups are a fun way to celebrate Pride and reflect Costa Coffee’s values of equality, and diversity. We are passionate about championing team members rights to work in an inclusive, supportive environment. We’re so proud of the achievements of the GLOW team and look forward to seeing them marching at the many of the Pride Parades across the UK.” 

In previous years, Costa Coffee has shown its support of Pride with the launch of limited edition Rainbow Lattes as well as changing its iconic red sign at key stores to rainbow.  This activity all ladders to Whitbread PLC’s commitment to being the most inclusive employer in hospitality. 

For more information on participating stores for the new rainbow cups, please visit please visit www.costa.co.uk.

For more information please contact the Costa press office on 020 3196 9668 or at Costateam@onegreenbean.com    

Notes to editors

*The new cups will be available in store the week prior to local Pride celebrations and available throughout and on the day of the marches at the following locations (selected stores only): 

  • Edinburgh, from 11 June
  • Chelmsford, from 11 June
  • London, from 2 July
  • Glasgow from 9 July
  • Brighton, from 30 July
  • Leeds, from 30 July
  • Manchester, from 20 August
  • Cardiff, from 20 August  

Please see www.costa.co.uk for more information  

About Costa

Founded in London by Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa in 1971, Costa is now part of Whitbread PLC, which this year celebrates its 275th Anniversary as a great British business. 

With over 2,300 coffee shops in the UK and more than 1,300 in 31 international markets we are the fastest growing coffee shop business in the UK and are proud to be the UK’s favourite coffee shop,having been awarded “Best Branded Coffee Shop Chain in the UK and Ireland” by Allegra Strategies for eight years running (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015, 2016 and 2017). 

Looking after coffee growers is extremely important to us, which is why we established The Costa Foundation, a registered charity with the aim to relieve poverty, advance education and the health and environment of coffee-growing communities around the world. So far, The Costa Foundation has funded the building of 78 schools and improved the social and economic welfare of coffee-growing communities.Costa is also committed to tackling the UK’s literacy challenge and is proud to have signed the Vision for Literacy Business Pledge 2016. In continuation of this commitment and inspired by the Costa Book Awards and the ongoing work of the Costa Foundation, Costa launched its inaugural Reading Week in September 2016 in conjunction with over 500 schools across the UK.

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