After La Colombe was acquired by Chobani, the Philadelphia-based coffee roaster is eyeing the future, writes Kristen Mosbrucker-Garza for WHYY.

While exact details about the partnership are still being worked out, La Colombe has an idea of what it wants to get out of it.

“The focus today is really doubling down on what we do best. So La Colombe, it’s about coffee. Cold brew is high growth. Chobani has its creamers. I do think there’s a lot of leverage there,” said Kathryn O’Connor, chief marketing officer at La Colombe.

La Colombe is expected to remain an independent business with the same management. However, collaboration with Chobani will be more frequent.

Chobani’s founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, made a significant investment in La Colombe years ago — an investment O’Connor said was influential in La Colombe’s shift to branch out beyond cafes.

“It was really about the vision to bring better coffee to more people. In order to do that at scale, it wasn’t going to happen through a cafe on every corner in every city,” O’Connor said.

Instead, it’s the ability to transform the cafe into a crafted on-the-go beverage. 

For Chobani, the acquisition enables it to become a more modern food company.

Read more about how La Colombe and Chobani hope to benefit from the recent acquisition in WHYY.

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