Hardware Podcasts

La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti

How I Built This · 20 Jul 2020 · 1h 04m

What this episode covers

Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti, co-founders of La Colombe Coffee Roasters, recount their journey from meeting in 1980s Seattle to pioneering the third-wave coffee movement in Philadelphia. They detail their early struggles, including roasting beans in a cafe with a makeshift chimney, and their strategic pivot to direct farm sourcing and ready-to-drink products like the Draft Latte. The episode highlights their decision to buy out a private equity investor to avoid rapid cafe expansion, a move that allowed them to scale into a billion-dollar company with widespread grocery distribution.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
La Colombe Coffee Roasters, Starbucks, Intelligentsia, Counter Culture, Espresso Roma, Toscanini's Italia, Le Bec Fin, Paragon Coffee, U.S. Bank
Products
Draft Latte

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