Costa Coffee, one of the UK’s most successful chains of coffee shops, has announced that its Russian partner Rosinter Restaurants is to open outlets across Russia under a sub-franchise agreement. Partners who sign up to the franchise will be required to open at least three Costa Coffee locations in formats including free-standing stores and food courts. In a seemingly unrelated development, Russia’s fastest growing coffee house chain Chocolate Girl has completed the acquisition of its nearest competitor Coffee House to create a network of nearly 650 0utlets. rbth