Overview:
La Colombe Torrefaction (“La Colombe”) is a roaster and manufacturer of high-end specialty coffee sold to gourmet foodservice clients and in its company-owned cafes.
Transaction Rationale:
The specialty coffee sector was emerging as the answer to the homogenization of Starbucks, and La Colombe was a leading player in a relatively young market. The company had significant growth potential through a retail rollout in both new and existing markets, further penetration of foodservice customer base, expansion into the grocery channel and development of an e-commerce platform.
Goode Value Add:
Goode implemented strategic planning and reporting processes to provide the management team with insight on business performance by channel. Goode also helped to refine the real estate selection and café build-out process as well as to implement processes and systems required to support growth plans of the business going forward. With Goode’s guidance, La Colombe launched into the grocery channel, beginning with Target, in Q1 2015.
Exit:
While Goode typically doesn’t anticipate exiting an investment in such a short period of time, the Company was quickly presented with a unique opportunity that would accelerate the execution of the strategic plan that Goode and the Company previously developed. Goode announced the sale of its controlling interest in La Colombe to renowned food entrepreneur, Hamdi Ulukaya, in August 2015.
