CoffeeAM is acquired by Luna Gourmet Coffee and Tea
A family business sold after nearly three decades, to a buyer who shared the founder's view of what it could become. Closed June 2025.
Selling a family business after nearly three decades is not a purely financial decision, and the CoffeeAM process was a reminder of that. CoffeeAM was one of the first specialty coffee roasters to launch online in the United States, and by 2025 its founder was weighing what the next chapter should look like for a business the family had built from nothing.
Why the process mattered
A consultation is a limited window of time. When that time is spent searching memory for dates or trying to reconstruct a financial picture from scratch, less of it goes toward what actually helps you: understanding your options. The more grounded you are in the facts of your own situation, the more we can focus on what comes next rather than on assembling the basics.
This doesn't mean you need a perfect file. It means a few key things in hand make a real difference.
How the process ran
Catapult served as CoffeeAM's strategic and financial advisor, supporting the development and execution of its M&A strategy. We created a structured process that produced a substantial number of competing bids, which put real upward pressure on valuation, and we managed the full diligence process, including presenting the financials in a clear, investor-ready format that showed the true performance of the business.
If children are involved, a simple summary of the current arrangement is valuable: who lives where, what the schedule looks like now, and what you hope it might look like going forward. You don't need a formal document. A few handwritten notes are enough.
The buyer was Luna Gourmet Coffee and Tea Company, Colorado's largest family-owned roaster, whose multi-brand portfolio includes Boyer's Coffee, Boca Java and Boulder Organic Coffee.
The buyer that shared the vision
It did not need a broad auction. A process that reaches every conceivable buyer often slows a sale rather than improving it, and a founder does not need to arrive with a valuation already fixed in mind. The right buyers were the ones who understood what nearly three decades of direct-to-consumer roasting had built.
And you certainly don't need to have your emotions neatly arranged. People sometimes apologize for being upset in a first meeting. There's no need. We've sat across from many people on what is often one of the hardest days of their year.
What the founder was actually deciding
More useful than any number was a clear sense of what the founder wanted from the outcome: a partner who would keep the brand and its people intact, roast the coffee better than before, and reach more customers than the family could alone. Luna Gourmet was that partner, and the competing bids gave the founder the leverage to choose on those terms.
A first consultation is a beginning, not a commitment. Come with what you have, and we'll take it from there.
