A poorly taken pic of the Costa Drive Thru kiosk at Maidstone, situated near the Esso filling station on the way out of the site. The unit was closed during my visit, so the unit wasn’t lit up at all and it was 9pm, so pitch black, limiting the quality of the picture I took from my car. Anyhow, it’s a typical Roadchef Costa Drive thru kiosk without any customer seating. This drive thru unit would’ve opened during 2016/17 and does a good job at ensuring the amenity building doesn’t get overcrowded during busier periods, by providing Costa without leaving your vehicle. Beforehand, even if you didn’t want to stop and leave your vehicle, you would have to enter the amenity building to get Costa products. Costa drive thru is popular and attracts customers who just want coffee and may be in a rush. Typical colour schemes of black and maroon make up this drive thru. Coffee shop drive Thrus at motorway services have only been common since the 2010s when Welcome Break opened a few Starbucks drive Thrus in 2012. Roadchef began opening their Costa drive Thrus in 2016, causing Moto to open some in 2017. Maidstone wasn’t the best choice of location for Roadchef to open a Costa drive thru as it’s an offline site, in which motorists must leave at J8 of the M20 to access the site. After this detour off the M20, some customers may see it pointless using this drive thru as it’s time consuming to get to as it is. Prices are inflated rapidly, similarly to those at the lounge in the amenity building, again putting customers off and swaying them towards the cheaper option of McDonald’s. Costa is signposted from both directions of the M20 as a drive thru, so customers expect to find this facility. It’s not well signposted around the site, but it becomes clear as you exit the site.

Photo taken on 09/04/2024 by Tom Moon.

Assigned to galleries: Maidstone, Costa Drive Thru, M20, Roadchef