Forty-Five Years of Lahlouh — and the Family Carrying It Forward

On May 1, 1981, Antoine Lahlouh and his three sons — John, Mike, and Fadi — opened a small print shop in San Mateo, California. They called it Color Copy Printing. They had a storefront, an idea, and the conviction that good work, done well for the right people, builds something that lasts.

Forty-five years later, we’re still here. Still family-owned. Still answering the phone. And still betting on the same things — craft, capability, and the relationships that turn customers and employees into something more like extended family.

This is a milestone that belongs to a lot of people. To Antoine, who built the foundation. To his sons, the second generation, who grew the company through every decade since. To every employee who ever clocked in on our shop floor. To every customer and partner who trusted us with work that mattered. 

And to the third generation — the children who grew up inside the work — who are now helping carry it forward. This is their 45th anniversary, too. So we asked them about it.

Then: A storefront, three sons, and the smell of ink

Some businesses are jobs. Lahlouh has always been the kind of place where, the moment you walked in, work and family blurred at the edges.

Tony Lahlouh remembers his grandmother — Houda Lahlouh, the family matriarch and a foundational part of the Lahlouh story — bringing him to visit his dad when he was four or five years old. “I can still remember the first smell of ink and paper,” he says. “It’s stuck with me ever since.”

Johnny Lahlouh’s earliest memory is sitting on his dad’s green office chair when Lahlouh was in Redwood City, watching him bring buckets of job dockets home so he could work through estimates at the kitchen table.

Christine Lahlouh remembers running through the building playing tag with the other Lahlouh kids, and using all the desk phones to call the security camera room to find out where everyone was. “Flicking rubber bands at salespeople on bring-your-daughter-to-work day,” she adds.

Catherine Lahlouh was the resident paper shredder. “They would give me stacks of paper and I would try my best to never let the shredder pause by constantly feeding it. Somehow no matter how much I passed through that machine — there was always more to shred.”

Natasha Lahlouh remembers Luise, one of the press operators, showing her how to mix inks before a job. “I loved watching the colors blend and mix together,” she says. “It felt like art meeting science to make magic on paper.”

Michael Lahlouh remembers playing hide and seek in the warehouse with his brother and cousins.

These weren’t just kids visiting their parents at work. These were kids growing up inside a business that, even then, was already three things at once: a print shop, a family, and a community.

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Now: Forty-five years of betting on capability and people

What started as Color Copy Printing in 1981 looks different today, of course. But the through-line is easy to see.

In 1983, we bought our first Heidelberg press, and from there, the company kept growing into new lines of work: mailing solutions in 1988, promotional products in 1996, and e-commerce in 2001. By 2005, "Color Copy Printing" no longer captured the work, so we rebranded as Lahlouh Inc. — a name that honored the family at the heart of the company and was big enough to hold everything it had become.

We kept investing in capability, adding two more Heidelbergs and two NexPresses in 2008, our own die shop in 2014, and in 2016, the first Fujifilm Onset X3 in North America — a bet on large-format that put us on the map for a new generation of customers. In 2023, roll-fed presses and screen printing joined the lineup, opening up entirely new categories of work for our customers.

We grew geographically, too. From San Mateo to Redwood City to Burlingame in the Bay Area, and from Loveland to Monroe in Ohio. Our reach extended internationally, too — first with the opening of our global office in Suzhou, China in 2016, and again in 2024 when we joined Igniting Global Collaboration to deepen our network in the promotional industry. Earlier this year, we opened our largest facility to date — 197,000 sq ft in Blue Ash, Ohio — paired with a new perfector press and a new digital press. With both locations fully equipped, we now offer our complete lineup of services coast to coast.

The through-line? Every single one of those decisions — the equipment, the locations, the expanded services — has been in service of the same thing: helping our customers solve harder problems, faster and better than they could anywhere else.

Catherine put it like this: “Our services keep evolving as the needs of our clients change, but one thing stays the same. We pride ourselves on offering the best service and putting the customer first, and that will never change.”

Next: The third generation on what comes after

In 2007, the next generation began stepping in. Tony, the oldest of the 3rd generation, led the way — and today he leads the company as its President. The rest followed in the years after, one by one, until every member of the third generation was part of the team. They now work across operations, sales, marketing, product development, design, and direct mail — alongside other Lahlouh family members on the team. The whole family is here, and Lahlouh is in a stronger position because of it.

They came in at different times and into different roles. But ask them what they love about Lahlouh, and you'll hear the same things.

Tony’s path through the company is its own kind of timeline. He started at nine years old as a sorter of invoices and bills in the accounting department. He worked in nearly every corner of the business — Press, Accounting, Marketing, Prepress, Planning, Direct Mail, Shipping, Promo, Online, Sales, Die Cutting — before taking his first full-time role in Direct Mail under Carol Velardo. And after all of that, he says he’s still discovering what Lahlouh can do. “We solve more problems than we think. I never knew the extent of our creativity when it comes to solving problems. Seeing us make a real impact by helping launch a product or drug, or helping make a massive event or marketing message land — that’s an incredible feeling.”

Natasha, who joined HR in 2012 and is now President of Rev One Design — Lahlouh’s design division — describes her shift in perspective as simply growing up. “I’ve learned how the magic behind the curtain is possible,” she says. “I see the hard work, passion, and ethics my grandfather poured into our systems, our practices, our people, and our family. I went from being taken care of by this place to ‘how can I now be the one to take care of this place.’”

Johnny, who started in manufacturing in 2014 and now leads operations, says the company feels remarkably consistent: “It’s still the same feeling of teamwork and grit. I feel like it’s more the same than it is different. Now I just feel closer to the process and the work itself, but the general feel of the company environment is the same.”

Christine, now a sales executive in promotional products, talks about what she sees from the inside that she didn’t fully realize from the outside. “The pride I take in the team we have. People in an organization that has been around for 45 years are the core of who we are. Seeing multiple seasons of employees’ lives — marriage, parents, grandparents, retirement — that’s my favorite part.”

Catherine, who joined in 2020 in marketing, describes the experience of growing up in a business she didn’t fully understand. “As a kid, I would tell my classmates that my dad was a printer. Each time I said it they would look confused, thinking he operated an office printer. Now as an adult I always chuckle when I think back to those conversations, knowing how much more than a printer my dad is.”

Michael, now a Product Development Coordinator, frames it as a balance. “Growing up, Lahlouh felt more like a place tied to family than a business. I didn’t fully understand everything that went into it. Now working here, I see how much effort, coordination, and care go into every part of the company. It’s about respecting the foundation but not being afraid to evolve it.”

When we asked the third generation how they intend to carry the legacy forward, they all returned to the same place: relationships and the willingness to do the work. 

Johnny: “Never shy away from getting on the floor to help out when it’s needed.” 

Christine: “If we need to get a job out in a rush, I’m more than available to be in the assembly line. That come-together hustle mentality.” 

Tony: “Building relationships with great people and organizations and focusing on helping them solve their largest challenges.” 

Catherine: “Customer first, and that will never change.” 

Michael: “Strong relationships, reliability, and a high standard for service — while pushing forward with new ideas and technology.” 

Natasha: “Stand firm on the foundation while we bring our own ingredients into the mix.”

That’s the legacy. That’s also the plan.

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Forty-five years, and the best is still ahead

To our employees — past and present — thank you for the craft and care you bring every day. Some of you have been here longer than the third generation has been alive, and you are the reason this place feels the way it does.

To our customers and partners — thank you for trusting us with work that matters to you. We don’t take a single project for granted, and we never will.

To Antoine — who started this — and to John, Mike, and Fadi, who carried it forward — thank you for building something worth inheriting.

We’re forty-five years in. There’s a third generation on the floor. There’s a new home in Blue Ash, new presses running, and an expanded global network. The smell of ink and paper is still in the air.

Tradition you can trust. Innovation you can see.

Here’s to the next forty-five.

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