In 1985, Sergio bought out Bruno's share of the company. Bruno went on to found a tableware company. By 1995, the chain had 41 stores in UK. In 1995, the business was acquired by Whitbread for £19M, UK's largest hotel and coffee shop operator, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary. In 2009, Costa opened its 1,000th store - in Cardiff. In December 2009, Costa Coffee agreed to acquire Coffee Heaven for £36 million, adding 79 stores in central and eastern Europe.