The boutique Peruvian coffee company Artidoro Rodríguez Café is launching its brand in the US retail and hospitality sectors. Artidoro handles the import and distribution of coffee produced by 150 small growers in Peru. Plans include exporting Peruvian coffee and marketing it in American stores, food service outlets, and hotels. More than just a commodity, Artidoro’s goal is to introduce American consumers to the exceptional quality of Peruvian Specialty Coffee.
“Artidoro is an organization committed to supporting Peruvian coffee growing whose objective is to open bridges between coffee communities and new international markets,” said Félix Rodríguez, CEO of Artidoro Rodríguez Café. “It’s this mission that inspired our entry into the United States since it is the country that receives a large portion of the coffee exports from Peru.”
Data from the Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism (Promperú) shows that the United States spent $231 million on Peruvian coffee in 2023, making the US Peru’s top coffee importer. In the 2022/2023 Market Year (MY), the US accounted for 22% of total exports, followed by Germany at 20%, Belgium (12%) and Colombia at 9%. According to Coffee Geography Magazine, forecasts put Peru’s coffee exports at 4.06 million 60kg bags for the 2023/2024 MY, a 16% increase from the previous year.
Coffee is one of Peru’s most important agricultural exports. Most of Peru’s coffee is grown by small farmers, typically families managing plots of land around three hectares. Much of it is handpicked and sun-dried. Due to the fact that most growers can’t afford expensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides, Peru is the highest exporter of organic coffee in the world, with around 90,000 hectares of certified organic production.
Artidoro Rodriguez Café was founded in 2017 with the intention of reclaiming and revaluing the work of Peruvian coffee growers. Most private banks in Peru don’t accept untitled land as loan collateral, forcing small growers to enter into fixed-price sales contracts with coffee buyers or borrow from informal lenders at high-interest rates.
“The alliances we create with producers allow us to obtain better prices for their work, and thus, we ensure that their work is profitable and they are able to invest in their farms,” Rodríguez noted. “Good coffee should not only be a pleasant consumer experience but also a means for coffee farmers to achieve their dreams. We want them to concentrate on their work on the farms and replicate these processes in other regions of the country.”
In early summer 2024, Artidoro is opening its first coffee bar in the US. The new cafe will be part of the extremely popular Taty’s Chicken, a beloved Peruvian restaurant in Manassas, Virginia. Partnering with successful Peruvian food retailers around the country is a smart way to introduce Peruvian coffee to consumers who are already fans of the country’s cuisine.
“We are seeking others like Felipe Muñoz, [owner of Taty’s Chicken] with a presence in the U.S. and around the world who have a passion for Peruvian food, and who want to help promote a global recognition of Peruvian coffee, since the families of more than 223,000 small producers depend on this crop,” said Rodríguez.