La Colombe

Twenty years before specialty coffee became a global phenomenon, Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti met at a grunge concert in Seattle. An unlikely pair with one shared passion: great coffee. While Seattle was already caffeinated, the rest of America wasn't—most U.S. coffee at the time was mediocre. The two friends began to dream of something radical: a cafe and premium roastery that would produce coffee at a higher quality than anything available in the U.S. at the time.

A few years after their Seattle meeting, Todd and J.P. co-founded La Colombe in Philadelphia. The early days were gritty. Their first roastery had no ventilation and received visits from the fire department. Todd even stayed at J.P.'s place while they bootstrapped the operation, squatting and learning barista basics—which Todd likened to being a DJ. There was no venture funding, no business plan template, just two coffee lovers trying to figure out how to roast beans better than anyone else.

The founders didn't wait for customers to come to them. At one point, Todd pitched La Colombe's coffee uninvited to a top French restaurant—a bold move that paid off. This direct approach to landing premium customers became the template. Instead of relying on walk-in traffic or ads, they sold to restaurants and cafes that understood quality. Their coffee drinks gradually appeared in stores across the country.

La Colombe went on to play a leading role in the third wave of specialty coffee in the U.S.—the movement that elevated coffee from a commodity to a craft. However, growth wasn't linear. Todd took a sabbatical at one point, admitting "I was suffering from my brain." The business also faced an impasse with investors at one stage, but Chobani's founder provided crucial support that helped them continue expanding. The shift from purely roasting to hosting cafes also marked an evolution in the business model.

By 2023, La Colombe had become valuable enough to attract acquisition interest from Chobani, a company with similar premium positioning in the food space. The acquisition valued La Colombe at $900M—a remarkable outcome for two friends who met at a concert and started with no ventilation and no connections.