With total sales at Costa rising by 8.7% in the 13 weeks to June 1st, the wider Whitbread brand reaped the benefits, seeing a 7.6% increase in total sales across the brand. At Costa the focus has been on rolling out 'Cold Brew' coffee drinks in over 200 of its stores, as well as its new breakfast range. Whitbread's chief executive Alison Brittain commented on the positive results, noting that “We have had a good start to the year, with first quarter sales growth of 7.6%, in line with our expectations. Our continued drive to grow and innovate in our core UK businesses, focus on our strengths internationally and build capabilities to support long-term growth, combined with our ongoing cost efficiency programme, gives us confidence that we will make further good progress this year.”