La Colombe expanded nationally by following restaurant chefs relocating to new cities
J.P. Iberti · La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti. A Brotherhood Built on Coffee (2020) · Jan 12, 2026 · at 41:56
J.P. Iberti, co-founder of La Colombe Coffee Roasters, explains how the brand scaled wholesale restaurant coffee supply beyond Philadelphia and the Mid-Atlantic.
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“A lot of people go into a kitchen and then move away to San Francisco, LA, Denver, Miami, and we had such roots in the kitchen with supply that people ended up taking us with them when they moved. So we did move from kitchen to kitchen, you know, and it went, when this started, then it went a lot faster.”
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Iberti argues venture capital destroys great retail concepts by pushing aggressive overexpansion
“I mean, how many great concept that we've seen over the years that, you know, just got crushed because VC money got in and pushed it too hard. I mean, there's dozen of example.”
Iberti: Dozens of retail concepts get crushed by aggressive VC rollout
“How many great concept that we've seen over the years that, you know, just got crushed because VC money got in and pushed it too hard. I mean, there's dozen of example.”
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“We got the fire department in, you know, about two, three times a week.”