Juan Valdez Café, the coffee shop chain owned by Colombian coffee growers, plans to open 50 stores in South Korea over the next five years, Cafe de Colombia said in a statement on 23 May. Juan Valdez Café opened its first stores in South Korea and Malaysia this past March. The new locations follow the coffee chain's arrival in the Middle East in November, with the opening of the first Juan Valdez coffee shop in Kuwait. Juan Valdez opened its first doors in Seoul, the South Korean capital, in the avant-garde Dongdaemun Design Plaza mall. Cafe de Colombia said that the chain plans to expand to the most important cities of South Korea, opening four coffee shops this year and growing rapidly to 50 stores across the country in the next five years.
In Malaysia, the flagship new coffee shop in Kuala Lumpur is of the successful Origins flagship format, offering a different experience of Colombian regional origins and specialty coffee brewing. Cafe de Colombia says that it plans to open an estimated 10 stores in the next five years in Malaysia.
The opening of these stores brings the total count of Juan Valdez Café's worldwide to 267, including 187 in Colombia and 80 are in 12 other countries including Aruba, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Panama, South Korea, Spain and the United States.
Since its creation in 2002, Procafecol has delivered to the Colombian Coffee Fund (FoNC) more than US$20 million in brand royalties, and invested in sustainability projects for the benefit of Colombian coffee growers, the owners of the brand.
