Lauren Reese and Elmer Fajardo Pacheco
Anticonquista Café | Chicago
SEPTEMBER 2024
Elmer Fajardo Pacheco was raised on coffee. In Guatemala, on his family’s farm near the border of Honduras, Fajardo learned how to grow, cultivate, and process coffee from his father at a very young age. By the time he was 17, he had been working with the crop for almost a decade, but in 2011, he left the farm and moved to Chicago to support his family back home, joining the team at Taqueria Traspasada #2. When he realized how much coffee shops in the United States were charging per cup, Fajardo was stunned by the economic inequity of the coffee business.
In 2017, Fajardo met Lauren Reese, who graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a degree in Photography and Latin American studies. Together, they saw an opportunity to bring quality coffee to their community, invest in the livelihoods of Guatemalan farmers, and support Fajardo’s family. Working outside of the current system, Reese dove into building a business that would allow the couple to have control over the supply chain.
Relying on Fajardo’s experience and knowledge, the duo started Anticonquista Café in 2019. Over the next year, they persevered through issues with government agencies in both the United States and Guatemala, a supply chain crisis due to the pandemic that halted the shipment of product from the farm, and frustrations and uncertainties with immigration. Nevertheless, in 2020, the couple started roasting beans—grown and processed by Fajardo’s brothers, Melvin and Emilio— and selling their coffee on a mobile bike and at farmers markets across the city. Since then, they have expanded their operations, emphasized the mission of their business, and set their sights on a soon-to-be brick-and-mortar.
