You’d think Starbucks and the Colombian Coffee Growers Association could get together over a cup of coffee.
The two coffee powerhouses have recently launched retail invasions on each other’s territories. The growers association on Monday opened a Juan Valdez Cafe in Miami just a week after Starbucks opened a big, new coffeehouse in Bogota, Colombia.
Juan Valdez Cafes sell only Colombian Arabica coffee. The growers association plans to add four more stores in the Miami area by year’s end and have 60 stores in Florida within five years, Bloomberg reports.
Seattle-based Starbucks opened a 2,700-square-foot coffeehouse in the Colombian capital and it is selling only locally produced coffee, CNN Money reports. Starbucks plans to open 50 stores in Colombia in the next five years.
Starbucks has bought coffee from Colombia since it started in 1971.
