OREANDA-NEWS. December 12, 2007. Whitbread and OJSC Rosinter Restaurants Holding "Rosinter" have announced they will launch the Costa Coffee shop chain in Russia via a joint venture. Rosinter is the leading casual dining restaurant chain in Russia and CIS, operating 216 restaurants in 8 countries and 24 cities. The new agreement between Whitbread and Rosinter will see over 200 Costa stores opening in the next five years, concentrating on Moscow and Saint Petersburg in its first year, and then expanding to other Russian regions thereafter. The partners also intend to open Costa stores in Ukraine and Belarus at a later date.
 
The first Costa flagship store will open in Pushkin Square in Moscow in early 2008. In addition, it is intended that some coffee shops currently operated by Rosinter under its proprietary brand Moka Loka will be acquired by the Joint Venture and converted to the Costa brand.  This new, strategic, business alliance will combine the experience and resources of both partners – the ideal combination of global and local expertise and knowledge - to achieve a fast and successful development of the Costa brand in Russia.
 
John Derkach, Managing Director, Costa Ltd said: "Costa has become a part of daily life for millions of customers worldwide with a presence in 20 countries, and this new agreement with Rosinter clearly demonstrates our ongoing ambition to be a global coffee brand. We are delighted to partner with Rosinter, a very successful restaurant company and an ideal associate with whom to develop the Costa brand in Russia, and to partner with the great entrepreneur Rostislav Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Blanco."
 
Rosinter's Founder and Chairman of the Board Rostislav Ordovsky-Tanaevsky Blanco added: "The sustained rise in disposable income in Russia has brought about an increase in the frequency of visits to restaurants and coffee shops. Coffee shops have become popular across all segments of the population and a growing percentage of consumers are discerning about the quality of the coffee, the food and the service being provided. We are delighted about this timely partnership with Costa Coffee and I am sure that together we will set new standards of quality for Russian consumers. "

Overall, Costa now operates 923 stores with 268 in 20 overseas markets. In the UK Costa is the largest and fastest growing coffee shop chain with 655 stores.