Costa will trial a big data initiative across its network of more than 1,600 coffee shops in the UK, it was announced today.

The global coffeehouse company, which is headquartered in Dunstable, has signed an agreement with analytics firm APT (Applied Predictive Technologies) to test its cloud-based Test & Learn Management System throughout its UK stores.

Other APT customers include McDonald’s, Subway and Olive Garden, which use the software to evaluate things like menu strategies, pricing, marketing and media, labour and operations, and capital investments.

“It is critical for Costa to have the best tools in place to rapidly generate insights that create value for our business,” said Matthew Price, finance director at Costa. “The ability to automate complex analytic processes has not only provided more accurate decisions, but it has significantly decreased the time required to understand the impact of each new idea.”

APT, which recently received a $100 million investment from Goldman Sachs, has developed technology that can pinpoint cause and effect, allowing management to examine how their decisions alter the performance of their companies.