Starbucks for Columbia

Columbian coffee is renowned world over for its strong, dark syrupy coffee and flavor. Strangely enough,  an average Columbian, on the other hand, just consumes 1.5 kg of coffee per year which in comparison to a Brazilian consuming 6 kg per year is nothing.

Columbia is world’s fourth biggest coffee provider, exporting 462,000 tonnes every year. In Columbia, the concept of going out for coffee has just started to pick up. In the past decade, Juan Valdez coffee shops owned by the National Coffee Federation has been the undefeated leader but now it will face competition from the American coffee shop leader, Starbucks. While Starbucks is going to Columbia, Juan Valdez is setting foot in the American soil by opening shops in Seattle, New York, Miami, Spain, Chile, Peru, Panama and Mexico.

The Columbian front might prove difficult for Starbucks, giving coffee to people who are traditionally disinterested in coffee but the American chain’s strategy is to serve coffee made from local beans till they have their own market and brand in the ‘land of coffee.’