Costa, part of Whitbread Plc, will increase the pay of its 12,500 baristas from 1st October. Costa baristas will earn a minimum of £7.40 an hour, once they have completed their initial training (baristas who are in training will start on £7.20 an hour). Baristas in London will earn a minimum of £8.20 an hour rising to over £9.
These new rates will apply to all Costa team members including those under 25 years old and will mean that the pay of a barista in Costa is in excess of the National Living Wage some six months before its introduction in April 2016.
Investment in teams
Chris Rogers, Managing Director of Costa said “Our baristas are the heart and soul of our business and make Costa the successful company it is today. We have been working on introducing new rates of pay and progression scales for some time now and today’s announcement represents a significant investment in our teams. We wrote to every single barista in September to let them know about our plans and the response has been very positive.
“We have chosen to pay the same rates to everyone as we strongly believe that if two people are making the same contribution they should receive the same pay and that it should be linked to training and skills levels, not age.
“At Costa we believe there are no barriers to entry and no limits to progress. We are committed to investing in our people through pay, training, apprenticeships, job creation and career opportunities and we’re proud to be leading the way in our sector. Costa is a true British success story and we are, of course, delighted to share this success with our baristas.”
Apprenticeships and training
Costa is on track to deliver 200 apprenticeship placements, complete the training of almost 3,000 baristas and create around 1,500 new jobs this year. Investing over £3 million per annum in training, Costa provides lifelong education and employment opportunities for those in the hospitality sector.
These changes will be implemented across Costa owned stores from 1st October 2015.