U.K. coffee sales perk upU.K. coffee sales perk up

Last year, when I was looking for a tenant for a piece of land we own in Scotland, I assumed the usual suspects would come forward.

The land is next to a retail and leisure park we own on a busy highway, so naturally we presumed a fast-food drive-thru would snap it up.

What I didn’t see coming was a Costa Coffee drive-thru concept. But a year later they are up and trading — in fact, trading very well.

I know the coffee drive-thru concept is nothing new stateside, but in the United Kingdom, coffee drive-thrus simply never emerged or caught on — until now. Our property in Scotland is one of about a dozen such drive-thrus in the United Kingdom, and the number is predicted to grow exponentially.

Indeed, when the owner of a much-loved — but long-...