Buencafé General Director Cristina Madriñán on celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary and how it has stayed relevant in the global coffee industry.
This year marks 50 years of Buencafé transforming the future of coffee, reinvesting its profits into improving coffee growers’ quality of life, sustainability of the coffee sector, and the Colombian coffee culture.
As part of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC) Buencafé is the only company of its kind that belongs to the coffee growers of a single country.
“One hundred per cent of Buencafé’s profits benefit 540,000 Colombian coffee growing families, contributing to the sustainability of the coffee industry in Colombia, the third largest coffee- producing country in the world,” says Buencafé General Manager Cristina Madriñan.
“Buencafé’s anniversary means five decades of this commitment. We have been transforming the future of coffee for 50 years because we are a stable, reliable institution, whose clients want to continue being our allies once they start working with us. We represent the seriousness and commitment of the Colombian coffee growing families.”
In the past 50 years, Madriñan says Buencafé has grown alongside important clients in the coffee industry, providing them with an exceptional product and service that has been valued by the market and has allowed all to grow together.
“For many years we have worked with important industry players who have found in Buencafé the right partner to complement their portfolio,” she says.
Madriñan says these client relationships have allowed Buencafé to become a global representative supplier of premium soluble coffee.
“First, we use the 100 per cent Colombian coffee seal which identifies our origin and also all the coffee growers’ stories behind it. Our clients and their consumers know that 100 per cent Colombian coffee has a recognised quality worldwide,” she says.
“Secondly, we add sustainable value for the industry. Today, consumers are more conscious of the products they purchase, they have a greater interest in contributing to a better and more equitable society. They want to know where their products are sourced from and that Buencafé’s profits are invested right back into Colombian coffee growers.”
Over the past five decades, the soluble coffee factory has had four expansions, including during 1983, 1997, 2008 and 2019. Madriñan says the production of Buencafé has significantly improved with each development.
“Production has increased, diversifying and innovating the product portfolio and our commercial scope has expanded. We’ve achieved national and international certifications for our products, quality, safety, environmental management, occupational health and safety management systems, and more. Buencafé was the first Colombian business certified in ISO 14001 and now has 25 different quality and sustainable certifications,” she says.
Madriñan adds that Buencafé has also acquired some of the best technology in the world, adapting it to its own needs and those of its clients, improving progressively until accomplishing some of the best premium coffee available on the market.
“We have also committed to developing the local industry, bringing knowledge and know- how to local technology suppliers who have been working by our side for many years,” she says.
In the last five years, Buencafé launched Sensoria by Buencafé technology to diversify and have a more flexible portfolio. Through this technology the company can obtain flavour profiles it never thought possible in the soluble coffee industry.
“Our portfolio is now more premium than ever thanks to the Lineage and Coffage categories elaborated through this impressive technological set. We continue to work with our research and development team in order to continue taking advantage of all the possibilities offered by the technology,” Madriñan says.
In addition to these accomplishments, Madriñan confesses she is proud of the brand’s “outstanding reputation” and her team.
“I am very grateful for the trust of our clients and their consumers, the high-quality standards of our products and the innovation through all our processes,” she says.
“I am also definitely proud of the team. I have the honour of leading a team of more than 1000 committed professional and talented people that make dreams happen. Thanks to our employee talent, every hour we produce a million cups of coffee.”
Buencafé will celebrate its 50-year anniversary the entire year, with visits from the factory owners, the Colombian coffee growers, and special events with collaborators and suppliers.
“We will also have a day of celebration with the community of Chinchiná, the town where we are located, so that everyone can enjoy our coffee,” says Madriñan.
After working as General Director for three years, Madriñan says the most rewarding part of being a leader of Buencafé is watching its unstoppable growth.
“Every time I know that a coffee consumer drinks a cup of coffee from Buencafé I feel a tremendous satisfaction. This is possible because of the trust of our clients, for whom we are the first option and constantly work to surprise,” she says.
“It is an inspiration to know that the daily work we do at Buencafé translates into future opportunities for the 540,000 Colombian coffee-growing families, our employees and their families, our communities, our customers, and our suppliers. It is very inspiring to see the scope of the impact we generate on a regional, national, and global scale.”
This impact is a result of Buencafé producing 24 million cups of Colombian coffee daily, exporting to around 40 countries, reaching 60 markets, and delighting new consumers with 100 per cent Colombian coffee.
In addition, Buencafé’s main commitment for the year is consolidating sustainability in all aspects of the business, tackling the creation of sustainable value in the three essential pillars, economic, social, and environmental.
“We’re currently preparing an exciting proposal for our clients regarding our sustainability projects. We are very excited to push our sustainability scope further and will let our partners know how. Through these 50 years of history, together we will continue to transform the future of coffee,” Madriñan says.
She is inspired to continue Buencafé’s market progression with optimism and teamwork.
“I am driven by the desire to contribute to the wellbeing of 540,000 coffee-growing families and create a better country. I am also challenged to surprise our customers with innovative and trend-setting proposals that take freeze-dried coffee to new heights,” she says.
Madriñan hopes to carry that same optimism into Buencafé’s future endeavours, with a strategy to remain relevant through sustained growth in the premium coffee market.
“We will achieve this by being closer to the final consumer through brands that offer a value proposition based on sustainability, contributing to the dynamisation of the Colombian economy, and job generation,” she says.
“We believe the global coffee community appreciates the efforts the Colombian company has done to bring the best coffee to every corner of the world for 50 years, knowing that this would lead to helping the coffee producers.”
According to Madriñan, Buencafé has contributed to the industry at every angle, not only because of the quality of its products, but also because, being part of the FNC, it is committed to sharing best practices, expertise, and innovation.
“As a sustainable coffee company, we have brought value to the industry, and we will continue to do so in the years to come. We hope we have served as an example of excellence and commitment to our valuable customers, employees, suppliers, even our competitors, and of course, our coffee growing families,” Madriñan says.
For more information, visit www.buencafe.com
This article was first published in the March/April 2023 edition of Global Coffee Report.
