Colombia’s home-grown coffee chain Juan Valdez has opened a new store in the US city of Miami, only a week after US coffee giant Starbucks opened its first store in Colombia, according to wire service Bloomberg.
Last Wednesday, the first Starbucks store opened its doors in Colombia, in downtown Bogota. The store is part of an expansion strategy that the company says will see 60 outlets open around Colombia.
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Less than a week later, Juan Valdez opened the new store in downtown Miami. It is the first of five in Miami, the rest will open by year-end, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
Juan Valdez, the coffee brand backed by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation, has a five-year plan to open 60 new stores in the state of Florida.
“We are a company that is world-class, that is prepared to compete with a company [Starbucks] that is so large,” said Hernan Mendez, chief executive officer of Procafecol SA, which oversees the Juan Valdez brand.
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For its part, Starbucks acknowledge that they are going head to head with Juan Valdez.
“We enter the Colombian market with humility and respect towards Juan Valdez and Oma. Coffee consumption will increase in the country and generate opportunities for growth,” American directer for Starbucks Cliff Burrows stated in the an interview with El Tiempo.
Juan Valdez already has seven stores in the U.S in New York, New Jersey, Washington and the Miami Airport. The new stores in Miami will increase the number of Juan Valdez outlets in the US by more than 33 %. Juan Valdez also recently opened a new store in Lima in Peru, according to Juan Valdez website.