Alghanim Industries, one of the largest privately owned businesses and the largest Costa Coffee franchisee in the region, hosted Costa Coffee CEO Jill McDonald at its head office in Kuwait City. During her visit, McDonald met with Alghanim Industries Executive Chairman Sir Kutayba Yusuf Alghanim; CEO Samir Kasem; President of Retail, F&B, Distribution, and Customer Engagement Samer Sayegh, and Vice President of F&B Phil Broad. McDonald was accompanied by Gordon Mowat, Managing Director of Europe and Middle East North Africa, and Tom Edgar, General Manager of MENA & Turkey at Costa Coffee.
The visit to Kuwait underscores the steady growth and success of Costa Coffee’s strategic partnership with Alghanim Industries in the Gulf. Since partnering with Costa Coffee in 2013, the brand developed significantly, expanding to over 100 branches in Kuwait alone. In 2019, Alghanim Industries also gained development rights for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the Sultanate of Oman, making it the largest franchisee across Europe Middle East and North Africa by territory.
During her visit, McDonald toured the Costa Coffee retail estate across Kuwait. Starting with a ribbon-cutting ceremony for two brand-new Costa Coffee stores located in the Assima Mall, Kuwait City’s newest mega-shopping center, she continued to explore how Alghanim has brought the beloved coffee brand to life in a range of channels around Kuwait City before visiting a flagship store in Sabah Al-Salem, Costa’s first drive-thru location in Kuwait.
“In one way or another, coffee has always been a deeply ingrained part of our culture, and our successful partnership with Costa keeps that love for coffee alive,” said Executive Chairman Alghanim. “Our customers are at the heart of our business, a value we share with Costa Coffee, a world-class brand that we are proud to represent in the region. We are also proud to know that our commitment to Costa Coffee’s expansion is similarly pursued by Coca-Cola since it acquired the franchise in 2019. Together, we continuously strive to find new and exciting ways to delight Costa Coffee fans, whether through partnering with local concepts, or introducing innovative ideas like our cold store in Khairan, or on the digital front where we are working closely with Costa International to enhance the customer experience. With this shared commitment, we look forward to achieving more milestones in the years to come.”
Commenting on the visit, Costa Coffee CEO Jill McDonald said: “I was delighted to visit Kuwait and meet our partners, Alghanim. As a long-standing partner, Alghanim are going from strength-to-strength, supporting Costa’s ambitious growth plans in the region and inspiring consumers to love great coffee. It was a pleasure to meet some of the teams and see first-hand the passion and commitment they have for the brand, innovating their retail stores and menus and putting the customers at the forefront of their decisions. I look forward to visiting again soon.”
In the year in which the brand celebrated its 50th Birthday, the Alghanim team in collaboration with Costa Coffee opened its first-ever ‘Cold Store’ concept in August, an innovative Kuwaiti-grown idea with a bespoke ice inspired interior design located in Al Khairan, a chalet area famous for its seasonal activities. With the opening of the new unique store, Alghanim revamped both food and beverage menus, adding 50 new iced coffees and cold beverages. This was in addition to an already extensive menu as Costa Coffee meets varying customers tastes and dietary needs with a constantly updated array of fresh food and several recently introduced plant-based options.
Together, the two companies have also launched sustainability initiatives such as switching from plastic to paper straws, offering discounts to customers who bring their reusable cups into the store, as well as beach cleanups. In a push to further enhance customer experience, they jointly established a barista training center, collaborated with local celebrity chefs such as Ahmed Al-Zamel to create seasonal items, and upgraded store design and interiors. They also introduced the cardamom-infused Turkish latte to the menu, adding a Middle Eastern twist to the classic latte. Put together, these forward-looking innovations continue to power Costa-Alghanim’s expansion efforts in Saudi Arabiaand Qatar, with plans to open the first Costa Coffee under Alghanim Industries’ management in Oman in the first quarter of 2022.
This article was published on Dec 5, 2021
