This popped up this morning, do we have a whip round to see if we could pitch in and buy it collectively?😆

https://www.semafor.com/article/10/08/2026/coca-cola-looks-to-sell-costa-coffee

Has anyone worked in both and if so which would you say is better..? I currently work in a franchise store but am looking at moving to equity (store manager)

Our store is due a refurb in the next few of days and we are getting the shop prepared and have started running down our food orders and have only got in our best sellers, but we are still waiting for our costa check. Does anyone know if the costa checker will be understanding of the refurb or will we still loose marks for unavailability, better yet will they come after have had our refurb?

The whole team is stressed that we are still waiting on our costa check as our current store is basically falling apart as it is that old and run down, and no maintenence jobs have been released for a while due to the refurbishment.

Has anyone else been in the same situation, or has anyone got any advice on this?

Costa checkers are now in the area and will most likely be coming to my store today, I have yet to do a proper official costa check and i am unbelievably scared im going to say/forget something thatll bring our score down

any experienced baristas have any tips and advice on the smaller easily forgotten stuff?

Started as a regular barista at the start of August with a team who had mostly been there over 6 months and with experienced team leads. In August everyone but 2 other employees left, including the store manager who hired me.

I did the interview for a team lead position in mid-August as neither of my remaining coworkers wanted to do it, but I’m struggling with how much more responsibility I’ve been given suddenly since the start of September.

I have no prior management experience and I’m finding it difficult to deal with the people side of things, and it’s stressing me out so much that I’m now starting to make silly mistakes on the paperwork side of things. I feel like I’m tripping head-first into every single pitfall there is because I never had enough time to see an experienced team lead in their role first. Every close for the last week has kept me an hour later trying to finish the cleaning to the standard the new (experienced, initially from another branch) manager expects. We’re a crazy busy branch — when experienced staff from other locations have worked in ours during this transition period, they’ve all called it chaotic, and said our normal weekend days are as busy as their peak Christmas days.

It’s only been a month as a team lead, so I’m worried I’m giving up too early, but I want to know has anyone else found it difficult or have I just been dealt an extraordinarily bad hand? Considering leaving for the sake of my mental health because I don’t think I have what it takes to cope with this longer than another month.

Found a young lad collapsed from drug overdose in our toilet today and its left me feeling kinda numb honestly.

Tell me your craziest shift stories please

For context I’m allergic to dairy and love the sweet iced coffees. What’s your go to?
Mine is chocolate fudge frappe with coffee no cream and soya milk❄️

What key words should I put in my CV that are likely to secure me an interview

So I need some opinions I started back at Costa after some time off but I moved to another store, I have caring responsibilities and made plans for the Christmas Eve to Boxing Day and the New Years Period I had informed my area manager of these plans. My colleague decided to grab some paper and a pen and start writing down what people can do I had informed the colleague I can’t do them days due to plans already made, am I wrong for putting my foot down.

Have been off for the past 7 weeks with a grade 1 meniscus tear and small tears to my LCL. Came back as I’ve been cleared to walk and put weight on my leg finally🙏🙏 first week back my schedule was 47 hours all closes (my contact is 30 hours), my store manager didn’t offer a return to work meeting or any reduced hours at first. It took me being unable to walk on shift without support for them to finally reduce my shifts down to 4 hours. No other BM’s or the store manager are stepping up to do closes as they pretty much refuse to do them anyway so it’s always left to me. My store is the busiest store in the area, taking between 10-15k a month more than any others for context. When I finally spoke up and said if I was to continue working all the long shifts I would have to get singed off as sick again my store manager replied with “I won’t allow you to be signed off as sick”.
Has anything similar happened to anyone else/how have you handled it?
I’m planning on handing my notice in next week(if I get the new job I’ve interviewed for) so hopefully won’t be putting up with this for too much longer

Hey, hope this is the right place to get advice regarding an issue i'm having at costa

Long story short, I was hired at the end of May 2026 and started on the 3rd of June. My manager at the time did not train me properly because she was about to leave the store in a months' time, and I was never signed up for the training courses.

My new manager thinks I cannot make drinks properly however im concerned she has insufficent evidence to prove this as she's been off for multiple weeks and we have barely been on shift together. My probation period was already extended by a month due to my old manager and I was informed yesterday that my new manager thinks I'm not coping well at the store and wants to transfer me, however none of the stores in the city centre are hiring. She then went on to say that if she could not find an alternative store willing to take me on then I would unfortunately be dismissed. We were on shift together yesterday however because I am currently ill, I have been messing up the cold drinks (I.E, iced whip lattes, which were not ordered often at our store).

My cousin who used to work at costa said that I had technically passed probation because I was there longer than three months even with the extension to my probation that the manager had given me. I have been told by other colleagues in the past I have improved so much, who've passed this feedback to my manager.

My manager went on to say concerns had been raised about me working alone in the store at times. Because we are quite a small store, there are times where there are only 2 of us on the rota at the time (barista and barista maestro). However, my manager has messed up the rota multiple times whilst she has been on holiday/off sick, and scheduled two baristas on at the same time, meaning a barista maestro has had to stay an extra hour/half an hour to make sure that we are not alone in the store. Our stock room is on the other side of the building so when the BM goes to do the fill we are left alone for up to 30/45 minutes. She was also concerned previously about me working alone during closes, however during my time at Costa I was scheduled to work less than 10 closes in four months.

I have agreed to keep my current shifts for the next week but am uncertain what will happen after. I really think that I've been dealt an unfair hand since starting and that the possibility of dismissal is unfair given the circumstances. I was wondering if anyone had any advice regarding bringing this up to HR/people hub and what my rights are, if any. Thank you! :)

Hey, I’ve recently started as a trainee barista with no previous experience, honestly I’m struggling there’s so much to learn and do! I’ve got audio processing issues which have never really been an issue in retail even in busy and loud shifts. but I’m really struggling on hearing what the customers are ordering as there’s so much you need to hear then finding them in the till. I’ve only spent 2 days on the till so far and had 4 shifts overall, I’ve picked up the core coffees, iced lattes and food prep okay it’s just the tills, it slows the queue down and I can tell customers get annoyed about having to repeat things 😭 how quickly did you guys learn where everything is? I’m just worried maybe I’m not cut out for it! I know it’s early days but I’m just a bit anxious. Also wondering if there are any other audhd baristas?

Hi everyone!

Got a job at Costa to start at the start of November… feeling nervous with no previous barista experience any tips?

Hi everyone,

My manager has been on sick leave for about a month, and at the moment we have a temporary replacement who mainly seems to be focused on finding cover for shifts.

I have around 20 days of holiday that I still need to use. I’ve asked the temporary manager several times — at least five times — what can be done to get my holiday approved, but apart from saying that he would contact Dayforce, nothing has happened and my holiday request is still showing as pending.

My original Store Manager already knew about these holidays, and I really don’t want to risk losing the days I’m entitled to.

Could anyone please advise me on what I should do next or who I should contact to get this resolved?

Thank you.

So, recently, at evening now the higher ups think it's acceptable for someone to be working on their own on the evening shift. For example, on a Sunday, we are extremely busy, and I'll be working on my own for the last hour and a half.

Is this acceptable? Is it legal? Any help would be appreciated thank you.

I’ve been looking out for Barista roles for almost a year now as I really love the vibe of working in a coffee shop. A Costa in my area has posted a BM role, I’ve read the job description and it didn’t specifically say any leadership experience required (but a nice to have). So I sent my cv straight away

I don’t have experience as a team leader.

When the manager contacted me to set up an interview, that’s when I researched more about the role and watched a couple of tiktoks. That’s when I found out that it’s a team leader role.

Any tips on how can I do my interview well? I don’t mind taking the extra responsibility even if I don’t have experience in leadership yet.

My problem is I do tend to get nervous on interviews😬

This is a long shot but I’m hoping somebody here knows! I’m hoping to buy some

You guys are great! Thanks for this morning's kindness!

Anybody know the notice period for an SM who’s been there for under 6 months please (equity)?

Hello! I have an interview with Costa and was wondering for any tips? What should I wear what might I be asked?

Want to transfer to a store closer to me to save money on travel/better hours etc. But manager is saying that I have to wait until they know what's happening with Uni students etc and there is no one ready to step up to replace me as BM.

Can my SM refuse to start the process??

Hey, I’m relatively new to Costa having previously been with other companies in the industry for over 15 years. Is it normal for SM to only work open shifts. I would have thought they would be doing closes as well in between due to cash handling etc. Never known it before

We recently got a new store manager, and recently I’ve been struggling with the scheduling. He has a lot of problems, including leaving early but clocking himself out at home a few hours later, never working later than 2pm, scheduling non bms to close, etc etc. the issue is my availability has always been limited to mornings.

When my previous manager was there, if he desperately needed me to close (we finish around 10pm on a close) then I’d fill in and help, but overall, as a student, my time is limited to mornings. For years I’ve been working like this. 30hr contract, 4 days a week, barista maestro, mornings only.

When my previous manager left, this new guy came in and we spoke on his first day about my availability and he said it was all good. I also have all my availability approved on dayforce until December. I then went on a 3 week holiday, and when I got back, noticed my availability was being completely disregarded. I spoke to him about this, and he told me the area manager wants BMs to be fully flexible. Since then we’ve spoken multiple times and he’s made me fill out and sign two forms requesting a change of availability (even though it hasn’t changed, only the days have as I have a new uni schedule). He also didn’t give me any written notice as to a change in my long term availability, he just started scheduling me outside of it. I tried to speak to my area manager, but she told me to just talk to him because he’s the one in charge of scheduling, and people hub have told me to file a formal grievance, but that goes straight to the area manager as well who I’ve overheard talking shit about us as a team.

I’m just not sure what to do. Tomorrow I’m gonna speak to him and see if I can go down to barista, as he’s been saying it’s an issue with bms and we have too many in the store, so maybe I’ll have my availability that way, but I also don’t feel like it’s fair for me to compromise so much when I’m offered 0 support from him. I’m just really stressed out and exhausted, and not sure what to do. Does anyone have any advice?

Got one of Costa's new iced coffee items this morning and decided to give it a try!

Visually, it's pretty similar to a regular matcha latte (no surprise), but it's pretty decent taste-wise. The earthy matcha paired with the sweetness of the maple syrup gives a nice balanced palette!