From bean to cup

Colombian-owned coffee chain and franchise – Juan Valdez Café – serves finely-crafted coffee thanks to its responsibly-sourced coffee and partnership with Rancilio Group.

THE BRIEF – TAKING COLOMBIAN COFFEE WORLDWIDE
The 340 store coffee chain and franchise – Juan Valdez Café (JVC) – is mostly housed in its home country of Colombia where it employs 1500 people.
Unique in its structure, JVC is essentially owned by the Colombian coffee farmers. Royalties are paid to use the brand which are invested back into the community through a series of initiatives such as Cenicafe, which gives coffee growers access to highly qualified technicians to help them improve their plantations.

This focus and investment on the raw product gave Juan Valdez Café the platform to franchise its brand internationally but it needed an equipment partner that would honour its values with a commitment to quality and excellence.

THE PROJECT – CRAFTING THE FINEST COFFEE
To ensure they found the perfect match, JVC opened a competitive bid to 12 espresso makers worldwide.  Impressed by its international presence, commitment to quality and the reliability of its Classe 7 and Classe 9 espresso machines, Rancilio Group was selected as JVC’s partner for international growth.
Each JVC outlet is supplied with either a Rancilio Group Classe 7 or a Classe 9 medium high traditional coffee machine which includes the revolutionary Xcelsius technology for temperature profiling, allowing the characteristics of each Juan Valdez blend to be brought out. Extraction is controlled by the Barista who can achieve a range of different results in terms of density, viscosity, sweetness and flavour.
To optimise energy efficiency, each group head can be powered and operated as a single unit to save powering the entire machine.

“The future of coffee will be increasingly gourmet,” says Andrea Mascetti, Rancilio Group’s export sales director.  “Consumers are becoming more knowledgeable and are showing that they are happy to pay more for excellent coffees made from high quality ingredients and professional equipment.”

As the coffee market becomes increasingly sophisticated and similar to wine with its range of varieties and flavour profiles, innovation has never been more important.  In 2015, Rancilio Group was awarded both the Red Dot and EU Design Award for its Classe 11 USB Xcelsius and in 2016 it won the SMAU Padova innovation award for Rancilio Group CONNECT – an online system that enables remote monitoring and maintenance of machines.

THE RESULTS – JVC GOES GLOBAL
Juan Valdez Café now has a presence in 16 countries worldwide including locations in Asia and the Middle East and is set for further global growth.
Hernan Mendez, JVC’s CEO said: “We were created to give value to Colombian coffee growers and that is ingrained in our strategy and ambition. Everyone, from our baristas preparing espresso drinks to the CEO, believes in that mission.  We all know that we are working for the coffee growers.  Our ambition is to be the most recognised and admired Colombian coffee brand in the world.”

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