Few groups of people worldwide hold the same level of appreciation for Latin America as coffee lovers. The region is a global center of production, and true coffeeholics will often enjoy a nice long debate over the sources of the best brews.

Colombia will no doubt emerge early on as a crowd favorite. Latin America’s third-most populous country exported over $3.6B of coffee in 2024, with over a third of this quantity heading to the United States.

Next year marks a centenary since the founding of the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (Fedecafé), a nonprofit business organization which today represents—and is entirely owned/operated by—over 540K coffee growers across the country. And without a doubt, no symbol better represents this organization and Colombian coffee than Juan Valdez.

Grouped bar chart showing Juan Valdez coffee shop growth by location, highlighting significant and continuous expansion since 2002 with accelerating international presence | Sources: Juan Valdez, Latinometrics
From 1 café to 632: Juan Valdez's rise

Created in 1958 by a Manhattan-based ad agency, Juan Valdez has served for nearly 70 years as the mascot of Colombia’s national coffee industry. He’s a typical Colombian cafetero, accompanied by his pet donkey Conchita.

The first official Juan Valdez-branded store opened in Colombia in 2002. Within two decades, it was joined by over 300 other locations across the country, as well as 250 sites abroad in countries like Ecuador, Paraguay, and even the United States (guess in which city).

With total revenues nearing $200M, this successful business is redefining the success of Arabica coffee, of which Colombia is the largest producer worldwide.

Sankey diagram of Juan Valdez's revenue flow, showing significant operational costs limit earnings despite diverse channels | Sources: Latinometrics
Breaking down Juan Valdez's revenues

At 681K tons per year, Colombia is currently the fourth-largest producer of coffee worldwide, behind only neighboring Brazil and far-off Vietnam and Indonesia.

Interestingly, none of these countries have followed Colombia’s lead in creating a wholly original, locally-owned national mascot to represent their country’s coffee output.

The same lessons of global brand-building could be taught by Juan Valdez to just about any business leader in Latin America.

But who knows? Juan Valdez may one day greet a Lusophone cousin from across the border, João Valdes.