Philadelphia-born coffee purveyor La Colombe was acquired for $900 million on Friday by Chobani, a company known for its Greek yogurt.
“We have never been stronger or better positioned to chart our next chapter of growth,” said Hamdi Ulukaya , Chobani founder and chief executive officer in a statement.
Chobani’s products include yogurts, oat milk, and coffee creamers, which are produced in New York, Idaho, and Australia, according to the company website.
Ulukaya joined the coffee company as an investor and as the majority owner in 2015. At the time Ulukaya said he had become aware of La Colombe founders because he was looking for a coffee roaster for the Chobani cafés.
“I believe in the quality of the product and the brand vision of La Colombe,” he told The Inquirer in 2015, saying he shared the brand’s “mission to make better coffee available to more people.
The news of the acquisition comes as La Colombe got a $300 million investment from beverage producer and manufacturer Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. this summer as part of a new partnership. Part of the agreement includes launching a single-serve coffee capsule in 2024, and selling La Colombe coffee through the Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. distribution network. The sale of La Colombe to Chobani includes transferring the minority equity stake that Keurig Dr Pepper’s had in the company into Chobani equity.
Employees of La Colombe will also benefit from the acquisition.
Chobani announced in 2016 that it would give around 10% ownership stake of the company to 2,000 of its full time employees, according to the New York Times.
“There will be no difference between La Colombe and Chobani when it comes to employee wages and compensations and benefits,” said Ulukaya. “Every La Colombe people will have the same profits and share options as Chobani employees.”
Details about what that could look like could come in the next weeks or months, he said.
Last year the company backtracked its plans to go public, according to CNBC. Ulukaya said the company is “functioning really well” right now, and that he is happy with sales, growth and innovation.
In terms of expanding the Chobani business into other products or areas of growth, Ulukaya said he is a fan of a mindset of “focus and go deep.”
“I don’t see us jumping to other categories until we see that the job is done in coffees and creamers,” he said.
Ulukaya grew up in Turkey to a Kurdish dairy-farming family, according to Forbes. Chobani got its start in 2005, when Ulukaya bought a manufacturing plant in New York and began making yogurt.
Going forward, La Colombe will continue to operate as an independent brand. The company operates 32 cafés in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Austin, and Washington, D.C.
As for what comes next for La Colombe, Ulukaya said,” It’s Philadelphia’s unique, beautiful brand. It’s about to take off to the country if not around the world and I couldn’t be prouder.”
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