Juan Valdez is Colombia’s original ‘Señor Coffee’

Coffee drinkers can celebrate in 2025. This year marks the 20-year anniversary of the selection of Juan Valdez as a member of the “Madison Avenue Walk of Fame” in New York City.

Sponsored by Advertising Week magazine, this exclusive club of advertising icons recognizes the “most treasured brand ambassadors” of all time. Juan Valdez, representing the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, was selected in 2005 for enshrinement.

“Juan Valdez is considered to be one of advertising’s most successful pitchmen ever,” said Heather Taylor of PopIcon, an affiliate of Advertising Week (shown below). “The humble Juan Valdez captured the spirit of the coffee growers and producers who made 100% Colombian coffee.”

“Dressed in a wide hat, with a striped poncho draped over his shoulder, Juan carried a bag of coffee beans and was accompanied by his mule, Conchita,” Taylor wrote. “His look became instantly recognizable and internationally beloved as an icon for both Colombia and coffee.”

There’s a lot of consternation swirling about in Colombia these days, because the job of portraying Juan Valdez is vacant, due to the untimely death of the third Juan Valdez actor in April 2024.

Sources say the Colombian coffee federation is highly unlikely to retire the Juan Valdez image, but it may replace “Juan the person.” Leadership needs a lesson in the economics of NIL (name, image and likeness). The being of Juan Valdez is way too valuable to dismiss.

Exporting Colombian coffee is vitally important to the national economy, and the coffee growers’ federation has invested heavily over the years for Juan Valdez to educate American coffee drinkers about all the reasons why 100% Colombian coffee is superior to all others.

When the Juan Valdez advertising campaign launched in 1959, most U.S. consumers didn’t have a clue that coffee came from fruit grown on trees in Colombia.

In 2002, the federation branched out to create Juan Valdez Café as a multinational coffeehouse chain. It adopted a graphic image of Juan Valdez and his mule Conchita as the official logo.

 

About 600 Juan Valdez retail coffee shops are now operating in 2025. More than 370 are in Colombia, and the remainder are spread across 20 other countries. In the United States, Florida has been the target market, with 25 Juan Valdez outlets so far.

 

“The United States represents immense market potential for us…because of its high number of coffee consumers,” said Sebastián Mejía, vice president of international business at Juan Valdez.

Memo to Sebastián Mejía: “Carteret County, N.C., needs a Juan Valdez Café. Muchas gracias.”

Curious minds want to know about the other honorees on the brand ambassadors’ “Walk of Fame.”

Charter members (2004) are: Red & Yellow M&M’s; Aflac Duck; Mr. Peanut; Pillsbury Doughboy; and Tony the Tiger. 

Other cartoon-like characters honored throughout the years include: Kool-Aid Man; Michelin Man; Vlassic Stork; Smokey Bear; Energizer Bunny; McGruff the Crime Dog; and Charlie Tuna.

 

Several human characters are also “Walk of Fame” worthy. They are: Colonel Sanders; Orville Redenbacher; and The Most Interesting Man in the World. 

Animals that have been chosen include: Budweiser Clydesdales; Coca-Cola Polar Bears; and Chick-fil-A Cows.

 

There’s a whole group representing insurance company advertisers. GEICO has three brand ambassadors on the “Walk of Fame.” They are: Gecko; Caveman; and Maxwell. Progressive has two: Flo and Dr. Rick. Also included are Mayhem (Allstate) and LiMu Emu and Doug (Liberty Mutual).

Perhaps the “queen” of all the brand icons is Miss Chiquita. She started as an animated banana – “the first lady of fruit” in 1944 – but was transformed into a “vibrant Latin woman” in 1987.

Absence of Colombia’s Juan Valdez is ‘cause for concern’

Coffee drinkers of the world are waiting anxiously to see if the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia will be accepting applications to fill a key vacancy – someone to portray the iconic character Juan Valdez, the organization’s widely acclaimed brand ambassador.

 

Juan Valdez, the fictional mustached coffee farmer, was introduced to the public in 1959. The character was outfitted in the traditional garb of an “arriero,” one who transports goods using pack animals like mules.

Juan Valdez was frequently seen in television commercials alongside his trusty mule Conchita, with two large sacks of freshly harvested 100% Colombian coffee beans strapped on her back.

 

The smiling Juan Valdez donned a wide-brimmed, white straw hat (“sombrero Aguadeño”) edged with a thin black band. Draped over one shoulder was a large poncho, a white, woolen garment with linear embroidery known as a “ruana.”

He also carried a leather “carriel,” a crossbody bag, with lots of pockets. Completing the “Juan Valdez look” was a leather apron, called a “tapapinche,” tied around his waist…and traditional Colombian sandals on his feet.

Only three men have portrayed Juan Valdez since the advertising campaign launched in 1959. The most recent Juan Valdez (shown below) was Carlos Castañeda, a fourth-generation coffee grower from the village of San Bartolo, located in the Andes Mountains within northern Colombia.

 

Castañeda was chosen after a two-year search among more than 300,000 candidates. He took over in 2006 and played the part until he died in April 2024 at age 58.

As of this writing, management of the Colombian coffee federation was still mulling over whether to replace Juan Valdez…or let him “rest in peace.”

Stress levels are percolating within Colombia. In Bogotá, Camilo Sánchez, reporting for El País, a Spanish newspaper, noted that Juan Valdez once “captivated half the world with his simplicity, a smile and a cup of coffee.”

“It is a role that has failed to be filled for more than a year. Nobody in Colombia knows who will play the farmer,” Sánchez wrote.

He reported that Germán Alberto Bahamón, CEO of the Coffee Growers Federation, “is currently considering the future of the character, weighing the pros and cons of continuing to use a human to represent Juan Valdez.”

This is a big deal in this South American nation. For more than six decades, Juan Valdez has been embraced by Colombians as a positive ambassador for the entire country.

Colombian children choose to dress like Juan Valdez, as their Halloween costume.

Juan Valdez ranks among the world’s most successful advertising campaigns of all time. Created by the Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency in New York City, its goal was to convince American consumers that premium 100% Colombian coffee was far superior to coffees made with beans from other countries.

When the campaign rolled out in 1959, only 4% of U.S. consumers were even aware that Colombia produced coffee. By 2004, surveys showed that consumer awareness of Colombia as a coffee-growing country had climbed to exceed 91%.

Mike Ferguson of Covoya Specialty Coffee in Healdsburg, Calif., recalled the very first Juan Valdez commercial: “Juan’s mule is refusing to budge, and the voiceover declares, “You think he’s stubborn? You don’t know Juan Valdez.”

“Juan was stubborn because he refuses to grow coffee below 5,000 feet, insists on growing coffee under shade trees and picks only ripe cherries, harvesting them ‘one-by-one’ by hand,” Ferguson wrote.

“It took only five months for the Juan Valdez campaign to have measurable impact on consumer perceptions,” Ferguson said. “The number of coffee drinkers identifying Colombian coffee as excellent increased by 300%, and 60% of those surveyed said they were willing to pay more for Colombian coffee.”

Here’s more background on the cast of characters

Only three men have held down the role of the legendary Colombian coffee farmer named Juan Valdez, a character created in 1959 by the Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency in New York City for the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia.

The first actor was José F. Duval, a native of Havana, Cuba, who moved to the United States at age 20 to pursue an entertainment career. He appeared in a production of “Die Fledermaus” at New York’s Metropolitan Opera before venturing into musical theater and movies.

He played lead roles in “Kismet,” “South Pacific” and in several production of “The King and I.” Duval’s film credits include “The Cardinal” and “The Mambo Kings.”

 

He brought life to the character of Juan Valdez for 10 years, serving in that role from 1959-69.

Carlos José Sánchez picked up the baton in 1969 and reigned as Juan Valdez until 2006. A native Colombian, Sanchez was born in Fredonia and studied at the University of Antioquia. He worked as a coffee farmer before becoming an artist in Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city.

The coffee growers’ federation interviewed more than 50 candidates before settling on Sánchez to step into the Juan Valdez role in 1969.

All of Sánchez’s television commercials as Juan Valdez were voiced over by Norman Rose of Philadelphia, Pa., an actor, film narrator and radio announcer whose velvety baritone voice was often called “the Voice of God” by colleagues.

Rose was a drama graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C., who honed his craft at the Actors Studio Drama School in New York City. 

 

During World War II, he was recruited by the U.S. Office of War Information to work as a radio newscaster. After the war, Rose lent his distinctive voice to radio programs such as “Dimension X” and “CBS Radio Mystery Theater.”

Rose was an accomplished stage actor appearing in both Broadway and off-Broadway productions. His television credits include soap opera roles on “One Life to Live,” “All My Children,” “The Edge of Night” and “Search for Tomorrow.” Rose is also credited with contributions, both as an acting and voice talent, in 14 motion pictures.

 The third man to depict Juan Valdez from 2006-24 was Colombian Carlos Castañeda.

All three former actors are deceased.

The number of different mules who have appeared as Conchita over the years is undetermined.

Sloppy Joes were a school cafeteria lunch line staple

Exactly where and when the Sloppy Joe loose meat sandwich originated is of little consequence to retired business executive Scott Loftesness of Menlo Park, Calif., who is enjoying a second career as an urban photographer.

 

He has mental pictures of where the Sloppy Joe “found its true home” after World War II, and that is on school cafeteria lunch lines.

“It was affordable, nutritious (for its time) and a hit with kids. It seems like we had Sloppy Joes at least once a week,” Loftesness wrote.

“The Sloppy Joe sandwich is a true American classic, with its signature blend of seasoned ground beef in a sweet-tangy tomato sauce. It’s a messy sandwich, but that’s what makes it so delicious,” he said.

 

“And let’s not forget the iconic white bread bun that barely holds it all together. It’s a culinary experience that’s been both a delight and a terror for generations of school children.”

 

“My own memories of cafeteria Sloppy Joes are vivid,” Loftesness said. “The plastic trays, the scratched compartments and that impossibly orange-red mixture. The cafeteria ladies would scoop out a steaming heap, creating a precarious mound of meat on a flimsy bun. We all knew it would usually end up dripping on our shirt, no matter how carefully we ate.”

 

“The Sloppy Joe had a unique distinction: the school cafeteria version was the ultimate,” he said. “It’s the one that stuck in my mind. No matter how many fancy interpretations chefs have tried over the years, nothing quite captures the essence of this messy sandwich like that institutional preparation that fed me and many other millions of American schoolchildren.”

Writing for the Blue Apron website, Anna Brones also commented about Sloppy Joes and school lunch menus.

Robert Jaber, a school nutritionist in Washington, D.C., told Brones: “I think the origination of placing Sloppy Joes on school menus likely came from a need for a fulfilling, hearty meal with a minimal cost. The Sloppy Joe, if served properly, can be the perfect combination of economics, nutrition, heartiness and student acceptance – it’s an ideal choice for a school menu.”

Beginning in 1969, Americans could get their Sloppy Joe sauce straight out of can. The “Manwich” product was introduced by Hunt’s, a major unit within the Conagra Brands conglomerate.

Manwich is a clever “portmanteau,” a linguistic blend of words. In this case, “man” and “sandwich.” But the product was marketed as a family one-pan meal that could be prepared in a skillet. Fry up crumbled ground beef, drain and add a can.

 

The company says: “Manwich is made with a tomato purée base and sweetened with both regular and high-fructose corn syrup. A touch of distilled vinegar adds a pleasant kick of acidity. The sauce also contains spices like chili pepper as well as aromatics like garlic.”

In the southern United States, a popular loose meat Sloppy Joe variation was christened as a “Southern Burger.” It combines crumbly ground beef with chicken gumbo soup. Most likely, the basic recipe was created by the Campbell Soup Company when it added Chicken Gumbo to its line of soup products in 1947.

 

Primary ingredients in each can of Chicken Gumbo soup are chicken broth, diced tomatoes, okra, rice, celery and soy-seasoned chicken. Mix in the sauteed ground beef along with chopped onions, ketchup and mustard. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

Online Southern Burger recipes are plentiful. Jacki of Recipes Made With Love suggests adding a dab of brown sugar to sweeten the pot. Ashley of The Darling Apron adds celery as well as brown sugar. 

What’s for dinner? Ground beef to the rescue!

Comfort food always works. What sounds good tonight? How about a supper meal featuring Sloppy Joes, Southern Burgers or Maid-Rites? All are found in the “meats” section in the kitchen recipe box.

What these entrées have in common is that each has a base of “loose meat” – ground beef that’s been crumbled and sauteed.

 

“There’s nothing complicated about a Sloppy Joe,” says Anna Brones, a food and travel writer who is a regular contributor to the Blue Apron website. “It’s sweet, savory…and sloppy.”

 

“At its most basic, the Joe is a sandwich made with ground beef and a tomato sauce. The Sloppy Joe’s history, however, is a bit more complex.”

“Some attribute the original Sloppy Joe to a café in Sioux City (in northwest Iowa on the Missouri River bordering Nebraska),” Brones said. “It is here, where, many years ago, in 1930 a cook named Joe added tomato sauce to his “loose meat” sandwiches.”

However, four years earlier in 1926, Fred Angell, a butcher in Muscatine, a city in southeastern Iowa on the Mississippi River bordering Illinois, had developed a loose meat ground beef recipe that featured his own distinctive blend of seasonings and spices.

According to Jay Goodvin (shown below), a contributor to Little Village, a news and culture magazine in Iowa, a meat deliveryman tasted Fred Angell’s new creation and exclaimed: “This sandwich is made right!”

 

Fred Angell and his son, Francis Angell, opened the first “Maid-Rite” restaurant in Muscatine in 1926 and began a franchisee network that will celebrate its 100-year anniversary next year. Bradley Burt, the current CEO of Maid-Rite Corporation, said: “Fred Angell was quite a sandwich maker, but not much of a speller.”

“Our select line of seasoned loose meat sandwiches are made from 100% USDA Midwestern fresh ground beef served on a fresh steamed white or wheat bun, with your choice of ketchup, mustard, onion and pickles,” Burt said. (Today, there are 25 Maid-Rite restaurants operating in five Midwestern states.)

 

Goodvin said Iowans also crave loose meat dishes that rival “Maid-Rites,” which are known as “Buckshot Burgers” in Iowa City, as “Taverns” in Sioux City and as “Canteens” in Ottumwa. The latter is the specialty at the iconic Canteen Lunch in the Alley, where the sandwich is wrapped in heavy wax paper and comes with a spoon, so customers can scoop up any droppings of meat that tumble out of the bun.

 

The “Tavern” is shown above and the “Canteen” is below.

This restaurant inspired the creation of The Lanford Lunch Box, the fictional loose meat sandwich shop featured on the “Roseanne” sitcom television show, which aired from 1988-97. (The comedic star of the show Roseanne Barr was once married to actor Tom Arnold, an Ottumwa native.)

 

Perhaps, as others have suggested, the Sloppy Joe sandwich originated at a restaurant in Havana, Cuba, in 1910, owned by Jose Abeal y Otero. He served drinks and chilled seafood, and the ice would melt and muddy the floor, leaving things “sloppy.” Patrons dubbed the restaurant “Sloppy Joe’s,” and the name stuck. There is evidence of a loose beef sandwich being on the original menu, featuring ground beef, capers and onions.

 

One of the frequent diners at Sloppy Joe’s was America’s legendary novelist Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Cuba from 1940 until the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

 

Hemingway relocated to Key West, Fla., where he convinced his friend and bar owner, Joe Russell, to change the name of The Silver Slipper to Sloppy Joe’s Bar and start serving the legendary sandwich.

 

The Key West version of the dish is described as “delicious ground beef in a sweet rich tomato sauce with onions, peppers and spices.”