Instituto Salvadoreño del Café

Name

Instituto Salvadoreño del Café

Legal name

Instituto Salvadoreño del Café

Website

https://isc.gob.sv

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Coffee Sector Governance and Regulation

NAICS

Coffee and Tea Manufacturing (31192)

SIC

Services-Testing Laboratories (8734)

akta.pro primary industry

Specialty Coffee Shops (Single-Origin, Third-Wave) (THAFADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Coffee Shops, Cafés & Beverage Programs (EDALADAG)

Keywords

• Coffee sector regulation
• Professional coffee training
• Coffee quality testing
• Coffee policy governance
• Producer registration services

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Tecla

HQ country

El Salvador

HQ region

Latin America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Government Appropriations: Public institution funded through government budget allocations as the governing body for national coffee policy formulation and execution
2. Laboratory and Quality Testing Services: Fee-based quality testing services for coffee samples including physical and sensory analysis for producers and exporters
3. Professional Training Courses: Revenue from coffee training programs including barista courses, roasting, cupping, and specialty preparation methods
4. Registration and Certification Fees: Fees for producer registration (carnetización), exporter registration, beneficio registration, and other chain actor registrations

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Instituto Salvadoreño del Café is the governing public body for El Salvador's coffee sector, providing regulatory authority over the entire coffee value chain. It delivers professional training at the Escuela Especializada de Café, quality testing and certification through its Control de Calidad laboratory, registration services for all coffee chain actors, and organizes the Taza de Excelencia international competition. It also operates the Café de El Salvador national brand and promotes Salvadoran coffee domestically and internationally.

Product overview

Instituto Salvadoreño del Café (ISC) is a public regulatory institution for El Salvador's coffee sector, offering a portfolio of core services centered on quality control, professional training, and sector governance. Its main products include the Escuela Especializada de Café (specialized coffee school with barismo, roasting, and cupping training), a Control de Calidad laboratory (physical and sensory coffee analysis), and a Registro Cafetalero (producer registration system). The institute also operates the Café de El Salvador national brand, the Taza de Excelencia competition, and the Gira del Café promotional circuit. Digital services include a tramites digitales platform and online price reporting tools. The VIVICAFÉ project addresses added-value and sustainability. All offerings are integrated under the institute's mandate to formulate and execute national coffee policy, promote Salvadoran coffee internationally, and support producers across the value chain.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Café de El Salvador: National brand representing Salvadoran coffee internationally and domestically
• Gira del Café
• Taza de Excelencia El Salvador
• Escuela Especializada de Café de El Salvador

Products and services

• Escuela Especializada de Café de El Salvador Professional coffee training institution offering courses in barismo, latte art, roasting, cupping, and brewing methods for aspiring baristas, coffee shop owners, and specialty coffee professionals seeking internationally recognized certification. Course prices range from $30 for Preparation Methods to $100 for Cupping II.
• Control de Calidad (Laboratory Quality Testing Services) Quality control laboratory providing physical and sensory analysis of coffee samples in parchment, green, and roasted formats, staffed by Q-Arabica Grader certified technicians. Services include pergamino/cherry sample testing at $13.56 per sample, green (oro) coffee testing at $10.17 per sample, roasted coffee testing at $6.78 per sample, and gourmet coffee certification at $40.00 per sample, for coffee producers and exporters.
• Registro Cafetalero
• Taza de Excelencia El Salvador Premium coffee quality competition organized under Alliance for Coffee Excellence, providing an international electronic auction platform that connects Salvadoran specialty coffee producers with global specialty buyers at premium prices. Has generated $8.562 million USD in auction revenue from 2003-2022 with average prices of $659.32 per quintal and a record price of $59.90 per pound achieved in 2023.
• Gira del Café
• Plataforma de Trámites Digitales ISC
• Precios en Línea (Online Coffee Price Dashboard)

Quantifiable outcome

• Taza de Excelencia generated $8.562 million USD in auction revenue from 2003-2022 with average price of $659.32 per quintal vs conventional market prices
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Alcaldía de Santa AnaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 July 2023Local government partnership supporting the Latte Art Throwdown competition as part of Fiestas Julias celebrations, promoting coffee culture in the region.
• Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 July 2023International organization administering the Cup of Excellence program. Partners with ISC to conduct Taza de Excelencia El Salvador, attracting premium international buyers and managing electronic auctions.
• Cup of Excellence (CoE)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 July 2023International quality competition program that evaluates coffee through rigorous protocols, with ISC serving as the national organizing body for El Salvador.
• Universidad de Leiden (Países Bajos)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 April 2023Cooperation for applied research in the coffee sector with focus on gender approaches, generational succession, climate change, and evaluation of strategies to strengthen national coffee producers.
• Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería (MAG)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 March 2023Cooperation agreement for administration of institutional facilities. MAG provides space for ISC operations while ISC provides services to agricultural sector users. The collaboration supports implementation of the program to maintain ecosystem services from coffee forests.
• Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria y Forestal (CENTA)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 March 2023Inter-institutional coordination for execution of the VIVICAFÉ project, a cooperation between the Government of El Salvador and the Government of Italy.
• Technoserve (Proyecto MOCCA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 January 2023Joint work to improve promotion and positioning of Café de El Salvador in national and international markets, foster domestic consumption, support presidential programs, provide market intelligence, and develop quality coffee production programs.
• Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales (RNPN)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 January 2023Technical cooperation, coordination, and information exchange between institutions. Agreement enables data sharing and mutual service provision within their legal frameworks.
• FAO (ONU para la Alimentación y la Agricultura)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 May 2022Mutual cooperation for coordination of activities including training, forums, workshops, projects, research, and publications focused on agricultural sector and rural territorial development, with emphasis on youth and vulnerable populations.
• Centro Nacional de Registros (CNR)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2022Framework cooperation agreement for information exchange and service provision between ISC and CNR regarding land registry and property matters related to coffee production.
• Programa de Recuperación de Cafetales (PRC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 February 2022Coordination between MAG and ISC for technical management of the forest coffee ecosystem services program, supporting small coffee producers' food security through market development and associativity.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Coffee Quality Institute (CQI): Non-profit focused on coffee quality standards and Q-Grader certification. ISC's lab relies on CQI-certified Q-Arabica Graders; CQI provides the global standards framework that ISC's quality control operations align with.
• Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia (FNC): Colombia's national coffee growers' federation, the largest and best-funded national coffee body in the world. Directly comparable as a government-affiliated, sector-wide coffee policy, promotion, and quality institution — the benchmark ISC emulates at smaller scale.
• Anacafé (Asociación Nacional del Café - Guatemala): Guatemala's national coffee association, performing the same mix of producer registration, quality control, training, and international promotion for a Central American coffee origin. Direct regional peer with similar mandate and operating model.
• Alliance for Coffee Excellence (ACE): International non-profit that administers the Cup of Excellence program in partnership with ISC for Taza de Excelencia El Salvador. Directly comparable as a peer coffee-quality and competition organization partnering with national bodies globally.
• Instituto del Café de Costa Rica (ICAFE): Costa Rica's national coffee institute executing an analogous mandate of coffee policy, research, quality control, and export promotion. Comparable governance and operating model for a specialty-focused Central American origin.
• Instituto Hondureño del Café (IHCAFÉ): Honduras's national coffee institute, a direct regional peer with comparable regulatory, promotional, and quality-certification responsibilities for a competing Central American specialty coffee origin.

Regional players

• PROMECAFE: Regional cooperative program for coffee research and modernization across Central America and the Caribbean. Comparable in regional coffee-sector coordination role, explicitly referenced on ISC's website as a peer/collaboration network.
• Kenya Coffee Directorate: Kenya's national regulator for coffee policy, licensing, and quality standards. Comparable as a government coffee regulatory authority operating at scale in a different geography.
• Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA): Uganda's statutory authority for coffee regulation, quality, and promotion. Comparable as a national government body governing a coffee origin, but operating in a different geography than ISC's Central American focus.

Broad incumbents

• Specialty Coffee Association (SCA): Global industry association for specialty coffee covering events, standards, education, and research. Broader and more international than ISC but operates in the same specialty coffee ecosystem that ISC's Escuela de Café and Taza de Excelencia engage with.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/iscafe_sv
• Facebookfacebook.com/ISCafeSV
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/instituto-salvadoreno-del-cafe

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Instituto Salvadoreño del Café