The Ledger
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La Colombe clashed with its first PE backer over canned cold brew
“We did the deal, and that lasted 52 days to the first board meeting.
I said, ok, I believe that cold brew is going to be a thing, and La Colombe needs to be the father of it.
We also need to create ready-to-drink drinks that include milk, and hopefully one, if…”
La Colombe was founded to supply an expected American fine dining renaissance
“We had a deep, deep belief that there would be this restaurant renaissance in America. There was gonna be this huge inflow of French and Italian high-level cuisine, and that the coffee in America wasn't going to accommodate it. Coffee in America was just dedic…”
Philadelphia had no cafes when La Colombe scouted the city
“There were no cafes in the city. You know, it's a city of a million, some people, and there wasn't one cup of coffee.”
La Colombe built its original Philadelphia cafe entirely without municipal permits
“In fact, we built the cafe by our, like, with no permits. Like, I did all the wiring, all the plumbing. Like, we asked forgiveness rather than permission on pretty much anything.”
Carmichael designs food and beverage products for just one or two individuals
“I think it's really hard to make food and beverage for everybody. It's like Kurt Vonnegut wrote for his sister. He wrote for one person. And I think that when I make food and beverage, I have like one or two people I think about.”
Direct coffee sourcing requires repeat visits to earn skeptical farmers' trust
“The problem is, in places like Haiti, or in Africa, or even El Salvador, there are loads of gringos that show up making promises and then never come back. You have to show a resilience that you're coming back time and time and time again.”
Commodity coffee traders ignore specialty buyers due to their small purchase volumes
“And traders that are trading over borders, or they're, you know, taking big lion's share, and it ends up in some Maxwell House blend. They're looking for giant volumes, and we're not disrupting that. We're looking for this creme de la creme, and often they lea…”
Chobani founder Hamdi Ulukaya bought out La Colombe's initial private equity backer
“In order for that to happen, you need to take out this VC.
And he said, great, let's meet him.
And we met him, and he did.
And they had no problem with it?
They were like, sure, we'll sell.
That's fine.
Yeah, they doubled their money in a couple months.”
Carmichael: American coffee was unprepared for an incoming French and Italian fine-dining boom
“We had a deep, deep belief that there would be this restaurant renaissance in America. There was going to be this huge inflow of French and Italian high-level cuisine, and that the coffee in America wasn't going to accommodate it.”
Carmichael: 1990s Philadelphia had over a million residents but zero cafes
“So the two main beautiful, you know, roads in the city right now is Walnut and Chestnut. They were pretty much closed down. There were no cafes in the city. You know, it's a city of a million, some people, and there wasn't one cup of coffee.”
Carmichael: La Colombe's first cafe was built entirely without permits
“In fact, we built the cafe by our, like, with no permits. Like, I did all the wiring, all the plumbing. Like, we asked forgiveness rather than permission on pretty much anything.”
Carmichael: Food and beverage should be crafted for one or two people
“I think it's really hard to make food and beverage for everybody. It's like Kurt Vonnegut wrote for his sister. He wrote for one person. And I think that when I make food and beverage, I have like one or two people I think about.”
Carmichael: Traditional coffee supply chains can have 10+ layers of middlemen
“Because that chain of events that you described can sometimes be 10 or more deeper than that.”
Carmichael: Direct sourcing requires repeatedly returning to earn farmer trust
“Once you get the faith and confidence of farmers, then you can do pretty much what you want. The problem is, in places like Haiti, or in Africa, or even El Salvador, there are loads of gringos that show up making promises and then never come back. You have to …”
Carmichael: Commodity traders tolerate specialty sourcing because volumes are tiny
“And traders that are trading over borders, or they're, you know, taking big lion's share, and it ends up in some Maxwell House blend. They're looking for giant volumes, and we're not disrupting that. We're looking for this creme de la creme, and often, they le…”
Carmichael vented La Colombe's first roaster through a 20-story outdoor garbage chute
“I jackhammered a hole into a garbage chute that runs the outside of the building, and I think it's about 20 stories high. And I piped the, then cemented the piping into the garbage chute and told JP to fire it up.”
La Colombe priced wholesale coffee at mid-$7 against a $1.50 market standard
“When we arrived in Philly, coffee wholesale to restaurants was at about a dollar 50 a pound, and ours was the mid-sevens.”
Pre-1990s American espresso was too abrasive to consume without milk or sugar
“Because espresso in America up to that point was an abrasive liquid. It was not to be consumed without tons of sugar or milk on it.”
Carmichael offered to surrender his La Colombe shares during a mental crisis
“So, I went to JP, and I said, you can have my shares. I don't want to ruin this thing, you can have it all.”
La Colombe Draft Lattes are in nearly two-thirds of U.S. grocery stores
“I'd say, yeah, it's probably higher than that now. I'd say we're getting like two out of three. It's close.”
Carmichael: La Colombe priced wholesale coffee at mid-$7/lb versus $1.50 market rate
“When we arrived in Philly, coffee wholesale to restaurants was at about a dollar 50 a pound, and ours was the mid-sevens.”
Carmichael: Offered to give all his La Colombe equity to co-founder Iberti
“So, I went to JP, and I said, you can have my shares. I don't want to ruin this thing, you can have it all.”
Carmichael: La Colombe Draft Latte is in nearly two-thirds of US grocery stores
“I'd say, yeah, it's probably higher than that now. I'd say we're getting like two out of three. It's close.”
Carmichael: La Colombe founders cut their salaries to zero during COVID-19
“JP and I, we just, we cut our salaries to zero. We went to the executive crew, we cut everyone 50%.”
Starbucks rejected Todd Carmichael as a barista before he founded La Colombe
“What I really wanted to do, and this probably exposes the kid in me, but I wanted to be a barista. I wanted to be the cool kid, right? And Starbucks wouldn't let me do it. You know, come on, I mean, I was a flannel-wearing farm boy, you know, I cut my own hair…”