La Colombe Coffee Roasters facts for kids
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Coffee |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder | JP Iberti Todd Carmichael |
| Headquarters | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
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Key people
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Hamdi Ulukaya |
| Products | Coffee |
| Parent | Chobani |
La Colombe Coffee Roasters is a well-known American company that roasts and sells coffee. It started in 1994 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You can find their coffee shops, called cafés, in many big cities. These include Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C..
In 2023, a company called Chobani, famous for its yogurt, bought La Colombe. This made La Colombe part of the Chobani family. La Colombe is known for being part of the "third-wave coffee" movement. This means they focus on high-quality coffee, from where it comes from to how it's brewed.
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The Story of La Colombe Coffee
La Colombe was started by two friends, Todd Carmichael and JP Iberti. They opened their first coffee shop in 1994. It was in the Rittenhouse Square area of Philadelphia.
Years later, in 2015, Hamdi Ulukaya became involved. He is the person who started Chobani yogurt. Hamdi Ulukaya bought a part of La Colombe. He helped the company get $28.5 million. This money was used to help La Colombe grow and open more locations. This was a time when many smaller coffee companies were getting big investments.
How La Colombe Joined Chobani
In July 2023, another company, Keurig Dr Pepper, invested $300 million in La Colombe. This gave them about one-third of the company.
Then, in December 2023, Chobani bought La Colombe completely. The deal was worth $900 million. As part of this big purchase, Keurig Dr Pepper's share in La Colombe changed. They now own a smaller part of Chobani instead. Chobani borrowed $550 million to help pay for La Colombe.
Where You Can Find La Colombe Cafés
La Colombe's first stores were in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse Square. They also opened early locations in New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. New York City got its first La Colombe cafés in 2007 and 2009. Chicago's first location opened in 2011. Philadelphia got a second store near Philadelphia City Hall in 2011.
For a short time, in 2013, La Colombe even had three locations in Seoul, South Korea.
In 2015, the company's main office moved to a new building in Fishtown, Philadelphia. That same year, La Colombe announced big plans. They wanted to open 150 new stores in the next few years. They started expanding to Boston in September 2015.
In early 2016, La Colombe announced plans to open in Los Angeles. They opened stores in Beverly Hills and Silver Lake. More new locations were announced in 2016 for Chinatown, Washington, D.C. and Lincoln Park, Chicago. In San Diego, a new store opened in 2017.
In 2021, La Colombe opened its first location in Austin, Texas. It was inside a Whole Foods Market store.
As of 2025, La Colombe's website shows 30 locations across the United States. These are in Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C., Boston, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles, and San Diego.
A restaurant in Strip District, Pittsburgh called Coop de Ville also serves La Colombe coffee. It has a special window for walk-up coffee orders.
La Colombe's Products
In 2016, La Colombe started selling a special canned drink called the Draft Latte. This drink is a cold espresso mixed with frothed milk. It was first available on tap in their stores. The cans for the Draft Latte were designed by CEO Todd Carmichael. They have a special valve that adds nitrous oxide to make the drink foamy.
The company also worked on a Nitro cold brew around 2015.
Other products include a coffee-flavored rum called Different Drum. This rum is made at a small distillery inside their Fishtown café. La Colombe also sells bags of their roasted coffee beans. You can buy these in stores or on their website. They also make large bottles of cold brew coffee.
In 2020, La Colombe announced a new instant coffee in a can. This special can has technology that can heat the coffee itself!
Working with Others
La Colombe has worked with other groups on interesting projects.
In 2013, they teamed up with the Clinton Foundation. Together, they started the Haiti Coffee Academy. This program helps coffee farmers in Haiti. It teaches them how to grow better coffee and helps them sell it. The goal is to improve the lives of these small farmers.
In 2016, La Colombe worked with Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia. They made a coffee stout beer. This beer was served at local Shake Shack restaurants.
Also in 2016, they worked with an Icelandic brewer, Einstök, and Yards again. They created a coffee pale ale called Snorri's Awakening.
In 2021, La Colombe partnered with Whole Foods Market. This led to new La Colombe stores opening inside Whole Foods in New York City and Austin.
See also
- List of coffeehouse chains
- List of coffee companies
