Guillermo Ríos
Sources: Kaiserblick Specialty Coffee (website)
Guillermo (Memo) Ríos is the General Manager of Kaiserblick Specialty Coffee, having taken over the role in April 2026. He is a fourth-generation coffee farmer from El Salvador.
Background
Guillermo grew up on his grandfather’s farm, which operated 2,000 manzanas of coffee plantations with a yearly output of 25,000 quintales of green coffee. His grandfather also founded the cooperative Cuzcachapa de R.L.
Not wanting to continue a volume-focused approach unquestioned, Guillermo left El Salvador after high school and moved to the United States, where he studied Automotive Technology and worked for 18 years as a mechanic for Mercedes-Benz in California and Florida. (source: kaiserblick-dev-crawl.md)
He interrupted his US career to spend three years in San Salvador caring for a severely ill aunt. During that period he reconnected with coffee by taking courses in barismo, roasting, and cupping at the Instituto del Café de El Salvador, and by building relationships within the Consejo del Café.
After returning permanently to El Salvador in 2023, he purchased two coffee farms in the Apaneca-Ilamatepec mountain range, north of Juayúa.
Role at Kaiserblick
Guillermo took over management of Kaiserblick Specialty Coffee from Leopold Robner in April 2026. He brings a focus on efficiency and quality across all company-operated Farms.