Operations Assignment Costa Coffee

ASSIGNMENT ON Costa Coffee- Heathrow Terminal 4 Airside Issues In Operations & Recommendations

BY SACHIN BABAN SHINDE COURSE- MBA (Hospitality Management) STUDENT DATA NUMBER-713520 Tutor – Seth Louis Subject – Operations Management

Sachin Baban Shinde -713520

Operations Management Issues-Costa Coffee

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Introduction The Costa Story In 1971, Italian brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa started a wholesale operation supplying roasted coffee to caterers and specialist Italian coffee shops. Drawing on their Italian background and Sergio's experience of blending and roasting coffee in Parma, the brothers established Costa's unique roasting style. Beans were slow roasted at reduced temperatures to produce a fuller,less bitter flavour and a specially developed espresso blend was created of six parts arabica and one part robusta to create Costa's unique taste. Both the roasting process and their special blend Mocha Italia are mainstays of the Costa business today. The Costa brothers opened the first Costa store in London in 1978 and growth expanded at the rate of two stores per year with the help of their family and friends in the business. In 1988, the roasting operation moved to Old Paradise Street in Lambeth, London, where the roaster and green beans (those waiting to be roasted) are stored. Developments such as the new roaster were crucial to Costa. With huge growth over the 1990's the company had increased to 186 stores by 1999 and in 2000, 3.7 million cups of coffee were sold each week. Costa is now the leading UK branded coffee shop with over 300 stores and host units in a number of complementary retail outlets, including selected Ottakers and Waterstones bookstores, WHSmith and Homebase stores,Hotels and very important airports. Facts and Figures today 1. Costa is the largest chain of branded coffee shops in the UK with over 800 outlets 2. Costa coffee makes the best quality coffee because: • • •

All Costa coffee beans are slow roasted for 22 minutes to ensure a smoother flavour than quick roasting, which can produce a bitter taste Costa has 30 years Italian heritage perfecting the art of coffee making Costa source and buy their own beans from all over the world

3. Costa produces the best blends of coffee using 6 different parts arabica beans and 1 part robusta.Out of hundred percent 86% of arabica and 14% of robusta. 4. At Costa, we use our own specialist Baristas in all of our stores, who are trained the Italian way at our dedicated roastery. 5. Costa's own Italian accredited Master Roaster, currently oversees the roasting of approximately 35 tonnes of coffee per week. With the new roaster, capacity will nearly double to 65 tonnes per week. 6. Costa coffee is made by hand, rather than by the automated coffee machines used in some other chains. 7. Costa offers customers a Fairtrade coffee option, which can be requested for any of our coffees. In addition to this all the traditional and Earl Grey teas are from Teadirect. This is offered through the partnership with Cafédirect. Sachin Baban Shinde -713520


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Products Beverages:

Brewed coffees,Italian-style espresso, cold blended beverages, roasted whole bean coffees, tea products, fruit juice, aerated cold drinks,wine,beer. Food:

Sandwich, Paninis, pastries, Cakes, and Muffins Non food items:

Mugs, Travel tumblers, coffeemakers, coffee grinders, storage containers, seasonal novelty items, Costa card. Sachin Baban Shinde -713520


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The Costa Coffee Coffees. 

ESPRESSO A short, strong and black coffee, with no milk.

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ESPRESSO DOPPIO A double espresso shot. For those who like it strong.

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RISTRETTO An extra short coffee, even shorter than an espresso, with an even stronger flavour.

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MACCHIATO Espresso topped with just a dash of milk.

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AMERICANO Coffee, mixing shots of espresso with hot water. Add milk as per customer requirement

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CAPPUCCINO Coffee combining espresso with steamed, frothy milk. Chocolate powder on top as per customer request.

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CAFFE LATTE Coffee made with steamed milk. It is not as strong as a cappuccino

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MOCHA Espresso with hot chocolate, topped with steamed, frothed milk.

Information about the Costa Coffee Heathrow Terminal 4  This shop on heathrow terminal 4 is located in airside near gate 8

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opposite to world duty free. It opens 4am in morning till 9.30pm in night Its one of the shop of costa coffee which generates maximum revenue with average sale of minimum £6000 daily. Because it is on airside it sells spirits,beer and wine which is not available in a normal costa coffee shops. It does an average transaction of 1700-2000 transactions daily. It has a staffing of 23 including the store manager. It operates with two tills and two coffee machines. During operations in busy period the division of staff is as follows    

Two people on till Two people on coffee machine, one for toasting the sandwiches, one for refilling the display of food and drinks



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 One for cleaning and clearing the tables  One on the dish washing machine Layout Diagram Of Costa Coffee and its Step by Step Process of Operation Sitting Area

Hand out Area

Til l 2

Drink s

Food Displ ay

Displ ay

Coffee Machine

Fridg e

Gri ll

Que/Line Divider

Frescato Office

Past ry

Fridg e

STEP 1

Disp lay

Entrance Coffee Machine

Hand out Area

STEP 2

STEP 4 Til l 2 STEP 5

Drink s STEP 3

Displ ay

Food Displ ay

STEP 6

Sitting Area Sachin Baban Shinde -713520


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Explanation of Steps in the Process Step 1 Customer come and stand in the line/que

Step 2 Customer chooses and takes food or drink from the display



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Step 3  Customer goes to the till to order his/her coffee,pastry(cakes,muffins)to sit in or take away and if he has a Panini to toast he give it the person on the till.

Step 4 Sachin Baban Shinde -713520


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 The person on till right away give the coffee order to the barista and give

the Panini to the person who he toasting the sandwiches and give him his/her sandwich number so that he does not have to wait until the sandwich is toasted and it will be served on the table.

Step 5  While barista is making coffee the person on the till sets the customer’s

tray like putting the right saucer’s and spoons for the cups and glasses in which the coffee is being made serving any pastry,cake in the right plate with right cutlery as per the order.  Person at the till takes money/Card from the customer and completes the transaction.



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Step 5 Coffee is made ready by the barista he place it on to the tray or in take away cups and the customer takes it from the handout counter next to the coffee machine.

Step 6  Customer takes coffee from the handout counter and go to the sitting area and enjoys his coffee



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Issues in the Operations  As costa coffee has their own service standards and service process the

time take to serve a customer is 3-5 minutes which is time consuming for a place like airport where there is high turnover. In comparison to starbucks which takes 1 to 1 and half minute to serve a customer which is more fast and efficient. Sachin Baban Shinde -713520


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 As its on airport there is a big queue all the time it become very difficult

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to manage the queue in busy period as people have to wait some time for almost 15-20mins and he gets frustrated. Being on airport airside its a high security zone area because of this the delivery of products takes lot of time as it is scanned and checked by the airport security authority. Due to high security zone if the coffee shop run out of any food and drink stock or non eatable items like takeaway cups,lids materials the staff can not get it from from other costa shops or store as if it would have on a normal street. In coffee making shops the main ingredient is milk which some time is short or runs out and becomes difficult to get it from outside due to security reasons. On airport its very difficult to forecast the number of customers that will be served in a day,many times due to technical difficulties and bad weather conditions flights are late or cancelled because of this the airport is busy as well as the costa coffee shop and during this time coffee shop runs out of many food and drink items. There is a lot of staff turnover and to employ a new person on airport airside is very difficult as it requires a special pass to be made which is time consuming as the person has to show his past five years reference and then verified it really takes a long time up to three to six months.  Due to airport and high security zone the storage area is very less specially storing of perishable items such as milk and food items like sandwiches,paninis,it has a dry storage room but three floor down the shop which is a big disadvantage during the operations if something is finished or runs out then the staff has to go down three floors and get it which is very time consuming.  Due to shortage of staff it is very difficult to serve the customer in regular ceramic cups and glasses as there is no person to work on dishwashing machine so the customer is served in take away cups which is not desirable and not as per costa standards but due to practical difficulties you have to work in this way.  Manager faces difficulties to make duty rota’s as he cannot forecast which period of the day will be the most busiest and he can put more staff on rota during that shift and the operation runs smoothly.

Recommendations/Solutions for smooth operations  Costa Coffee should redesign their service model/standards according to the

location of the coffee shop to have more quick and efficient service during operations rather than sticking to old service standards which is more time consuming.  During busy period and big queue’s there should be a person specially assigned to go to the customers in the queue and take coffee orders and give Sachin Baban Shinde -713520


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the orders in advance to the barista and get his sandwich toasted so that till time reaches the till his coffee and sandwich is ready for him to consume hence making him feel happy that he is being treated special. Manager should keep same number of staff on every shift to perform the operations smoothly. During busy period manager should deploy right people at right places to perform the job more efficiently. Company and the Manager should keep the staff as happy as they can to avoid staff turnover as it takes a long time to recruitment a new person on airport airside. Staff should be provided with free meals during shifts to keep them happy and avoiding them from leaving the job. Company should make the airside side pass for permanent staff working outside airport which is a very long procedure,as a result if there is a shortage of staff on airport shop staff from other shop and go and work making the operations more smooth. During bad weather and flight cancellations its a big opportunity for the coffee shop to earn more revenue but as a result of high consumption of milk to make coffee’s the milk runs out as an alternative to this the manager should have good relationship with the similar food and drink shops from where the milk or any material can be borrowed till the time the delivery is arrived and return them their taken stuff back. Enough area should be give to storage when designing of store specially cold store other important materials so that more things can be stored for the high revenue generating stores like on airport. On airport people really don’t have time to enjoy and relax as they have to catch the flight so they have very short time,costa coffee on airport is suggested to more focus on serving on take away cups rather than investing in ceramic cups and glasses hence using the person working in dish washing in some other productive area during busy operations. Costa should focus on quick and faster service because it is airport by operating both the tills and coffee machine all the time.

References  http://www.costa.co.uk/coffee/the_coffee.aspx

 http://www.costa.co.uk/coffee/costa_story.aspx



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Operations Assignment Costa Coffee

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