- The first Costa Coffee to switch to the agency model was a café at the railway station in Poznań.
- The change took place at the end of June last year. First, four test cafes were switched to the agency model, then cities where Costa Coffee has one, two or several locations were included in the transformation process. Lagardère Travel Retail plans for agents to run ¾ of the chain's cafes operating in Poland by the end of the year.
- There are now 59 Costa Coffee stores run by agents.
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Costa Coffee with a campaign in Warsaw 
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Changes in Costa Coffee. Coffee shops in a new design
Costa Coffee cafes in the agency model
The agency model is a natural direction of development for Lagardère Travel Retail in Poland. We have been basing our company's development on it for over 25 years. Within various brands such as Inmedio, Relay, 1Minute Smacznego! or So Coffee, we currently cooperate with over 800 agents. We are convinced that the professionalism and commitment of agents at Costa Coffee will allow us to achieve even better operational excellence and offer guests services at a very good level – comments Monika Kielak, Non Travel Operations Director at Lagardère Travel Retail in Poland.
Managers are agents
The majority of current Costa Coffee agents are people who previously worked in coffee shops in managerial positions. They have priority in recruitment. Coffee shop employees, if they want, also have the opportunity to join the team created by the agent. At the same time, Lagardère Travel Retail in Poland is actively looking for potential agents on the market. A Costa Coffee coffee shop can be run without any investment and without any costs related to the premises – rent and utilities, as well as fees related to the service of equipment and the costs of purchasing goods are covered by Lagardère Travel Retail in Poland. The network manager also offers its partners training, access to tools that facilitate running a business and constant marketing, substantive and technical support – the company says.
Lagardère Travel Retail is a global leader in the travel retail sector, which manages a network of over 5,000 stores operating in airports, train stations and other concessionary spaces in 42 countries and regions within the Travel Essentials, Duty Free & Fashion and Dining lines. In 2023, the Group's sales (100%) amounted to €6.6 billion.
In Poland, Lagardère Travel Retail has been operating since 1997 – until 2015 as HDS Polska – and is also developing in typical commercial locations (centres, streets, retail parks, etc.). In total, Lagardère Travel Retail in Poland manages a network of approx. 1,000 different points of sale under 40 brands such as Inmedio, So Coffee, Relay, Aelia Duty Free, 1Minute Smacznego!, Costa Coffee and others.
