Starbucks To Open Stores in Colombia

While it’s not quite the same as selling ice to the Eskimos, Starbucks Coffee has announced plans to open its first café in a renowned home of the coffee bean: Colombia. After 42 years of buying coffee beans from the country with South America’s second largest economy, Starbucks will finally start selling its Colombian brews in Bogota, Colombia’s capital city.

Starbucks’ new stores will be run by a joint venture between Mexican restaurant firm Alsea, which operates more than 500 Starbucks stores in Argentina, Chile and Mexico, and Colcafe, a subsidiary of Grupo Nutresa, the fourth-largest Colombian food company.

Starbucks Colombia will open its first store in Bogota in 2014. The company has aggressive plans to open up to 50 stores there and in other major cities throughout Colombia over the next five years. The Seattle chain also plans to expand its five-year-old roasting and manufacturing partnership with Colcafe.

Currently, Starbucks operates more than 650 stores across 12 markets in Latin America.