Black Rifle Coffee Company

Black Rifle Coffee Company (BRCC) is a coffee company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, owned by former members of the armed forces of the United States.[1] It gained national attention in 2017 after pledging to hire 10,000 veterans after Starbucks pledged to hire 10,000 refugees.[2] Later that year, they were also endorsed by Donald Trump Jr.[3]

Black Rifle Coffee Company
TypePrivately held company
IndustryRetail
Founded2014 (2014)
HeadquartersSalt Lake City, Utah, United States
Key people
Evan Hafer, Mat Best, Tom Davin, Richard Ryan, Jarred Taylor
ProductsCoffee, clothing, mugs
Number of employees
200-400
Websitewww.blackriflecoffee.com

History

The company was founded in December 2014 by former Green Beret Evan Hafer.[4] He began by selling a small volume of his 'Freedom Roast' coffee through a friend's apparel website. The coffee sold well, so Hafer launched his own brand and website through which to sell his coffee and branded accessories. The company specializes in its online, direct-to-consumer coffee subscription service, which had over 100,000 subscribers as of 2020.[5] In addition to online sales, Black Rifle Coffee Company has physical coffee shops in Boerne, Texas[6] and San Antonio, Texas.[7] There are also licensed distributors at some firing ranges,[8] 5.11 Tactical stores,[4] and Bass Pro Shops.[9]

BRCC has produced a number of humorous and sometimes controversial social media videos which combine military humor with hipster jokes and guns.[10]

In 2017, Black Rifle Coffee Company expanded into Canada with a division, Black Rifle Coffee Canada, based in Alberta and led by CEO Darren Weeks.[11]

In 2018, BRCC opened a new coffee roasting facility in Manchester, Tennessee as part of a $6 million investment in the state.[12] It also launched Coffee or Die Magazine,[13] an online news and lifestyle publication that reports on military, veteran, law enforcement and coffee.[14] The publication made international news in 2018 after journalist Marty Skovlund, Jr. reported Australian special forces soldiers were still fighting in Afghanistan.[15]

In 2019, the company's gross revenue totaled more than $80 million,[9] more than doubling its 2018 revenue of $30 million.[16] In 2019, Black Rifle Coffee Company employed more than 200 people — 40 percent of them veterans of the U.S. military. At the time of reporting, their products were available at 1,700 retail locations across the country. On September 29, 2019, Black Rifle Coffee Company opened its first stand-alone licensed coffee shop in Boerne, Texas.[17]

The company underwent aggressive expansion in 2020, with their "Ready to Drink (RTD)" iced coffee-in-a-can product entering retail spaces across the country.[18] In March 2020, BRCC launched a coffee-donation campaign to support medical & emergency workers, quarantined military personnel and their families, and others working to mitigate the national and global impact of COVID-19.[19] In May, a Canadian gun ban enacted following the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks was mistakenly thought to include a ban on the coffee company, but further inspection revealed that the ban was actually applied to a similarly named Arizona-based "Black Rifle Company".[20] In July, BRCC provided a $15,000 grant to the Hunter Seven Foundation, supporting a new round of medical research exploring the effects of toxic exposure in Afghanistan.[21]  

Politics

The Black Rifle Coffee Company's corporate image is built on supporting veterans and first responders. Over half of its staff are former military.[16]

The company maintains a pro-military, pro-gun image[22] and has publicly supported the politics of US President Donald Trump through actions such as publishing a (since-deleted) blog post that supported Trump's then-current proposal of an immigration ban from Muslim majority countries.[23] The company's political stance has attracted attention from Fox News,[24] and it has been endorsed by conservative broadcast personality Sean Hannity[25] and Donald Trump Jr.[3]

During the 2021 storming of the US Capitol, a protestor was photographed inside the Senate Chamber wearing tactical clothing, a Black Rifle Coffee hat, and armed with a taser, pepper spray, and plastic handcuffs. The clothing and hat, which depicts an AR firearm superimposed on the United States' flag,[26] were used in identifying the individual as Eric Munchel from Nashville, Tennessee.[27]

Marketing

The company's brand is tied closely to its pro-gun and socially conservative image as well as close links with American military and law enforcement.

In 2017 BRCC launched an advertising campaign based on their plan to hire 10,000 veterans. While it was conceived previously[10] BRCC launched the campaign after well-known coffee purveyor Starbucks Corporation launched an advertising campaign centered around their plan to hire 10,000 refugees.[28] BRCC released a meme on social media that juxtaposed an image of ISIS fighters photoshopped with Starbucks cups next to an image of American soldiers in combat, which read: “Starbucks vows to hire 10,000 refugees,” and “Black Rifle Coffee Company vows to hire 10,000 veterans.”[10] Company posts associated with the ad campaign labelled Starbucks “Hipsterbucks.”[4] While Hafer criticized what he saw as a publicity stunt by Starbucks, BRCC also received similar criticism around their ad campaign, especially because of the size disparity between BRCC and Starbucks as well as the suggestion in BRCC's ad campaign that Starbucks doesn't hire veterans. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates had in 2013 launched a similar program to hire 10,000 veterans in the next five years and that by 2017 they had hired 8,000 of them. As of February 2017 BRCC employed 52 people in total. Hafer responded that BRCC and Starbucks are very different companies, and that their size disparity meant that BRCC's proposal was a much more ambitious plan.[10] In a 2017 interview with Vice News, founder Hafer commended Starbucks' veteran hiring program and clarified that he supports all hiring pushes as long as the message is a positive one.[4]

For a campaign in July 2019, BRCC donated a bag of coffee to a police officer for every bag purchased, in response to a story that six Tempe police officers had been asked to leave a branch of Starbucks.[29]

For a campaign in July 2020, BRCC partnered with non-profits Operation Supply Drop and Soldiers' Angels to deliver 30,000 bags of coffee to American troops serving overseas.[30]

The company sponsors the No. 9 Chevrolet driven by Noah Gragson in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.[31]

References
  1. Rocco, Matthew (21 May 2018). "Veteran-owned Black Rifle Coffee Company to invest $6M in Tennessee expansion". Fox News. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  2. Limitone, Julia (2017-02-06). "Black Rifle Coffee Company Vows to Hire Vets After Starbucks Refugee Pledge". FOXBusiness. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  3. Taylor, Kate (13 November 2017). "Donald Trump Jr. slams Keurig and endorses a pro-Trump, pro-guns, and pro-military coffee company". Business Insider. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  4. Castrodale, Jelisa (1 August 2017). "We Spoke to the Black Rifle Coffee Owner About Guns, Hipsters, and Hiring Veterans". Vice Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  5. Apr 9, April Berthene |; 2020 (2020-04-09). "Online sales surge at Black Rifle Coffee". Digital Commerce 360. Retrieved 2020-08-31.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. Bureau, Boerne Convention and Visitors (2020-01-14). "BLACK RIFLE COFFEE COMPANY OPENS FIRST BRICK AND MORTAR SHOP IN BOERNE, TX". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  7. Blount, Chuck (2020-08-04). "Black Rifle Coffee opening first S.A. location soon". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  8. "Store Locator". Black Rifle Coffee Company. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  9. "Grounded in Data: Hyper-Growth DTC Subscription Coffee Brand Black Rifle Coffee Company Adopts SoundCommerce for Insights and Decisioning". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  10. Linehan, Adam. "After Viral Meme, Can Black Rifle Coffee Company Really Hire 10,000 Veterans?". taskandpurpose.com. Task and Purpose. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  11. "Controversial 'conservative-minded' coffee company sets up shop in St. Albert". CBC. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  12. "Black Rifle Coffee Company Opens Manchester, Tennessee, Roasting Facility". Area Development. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  13. "Letter From the Editor: The Launch of Coffee or Die Magazine". Coffee or Die Magazine. 2018-06-29. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  14. "About Coffee or Die". Coffee or Die Magazine. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  15. "Why is an Australian fighting with US Green Berets against IS in Afghanistan?". www.abc.net.au. 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  16. Rockefeller, Mark (5 April 2018). "How This Veteran Entrepreneur Brewed $30 Million From Coffee And Passion". Forbes. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  17. "THE UNTOLD TRUE STORY OF HOW BLACK RIFLE COFFEE GOT ITS START". Coffee, or Die. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  18. Barber, James (2020-06-16). "Black Rifle Coffee Launches Tactical Caffeine Delivery System". Military.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  19. "Black Rifle Coffee Co. Launches Coffee-Donation Campaign to Support Medical Workers & Military Personnel Battling COVID-19 Outbreak". www.ktvn.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  20. Snyder, Jesse (May 12, 2020). "Trudeau's gun ban appeared to prohibit some coffee, a website and a toy. Here's why". National Post.
  21. "Black Rifle Coffee backs major military toxic exposure research by Hunter Seven with $15,000 grant". Connecting Vets. 2020-07-21. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  22. van Zuylen-Wood, Simon (4 March 2019). "The Heavily Armed Millennials of Instagram". Washington Post. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  23. Taylor, Kate (7 February 2017). "This veteran-run coffee company wants to take on 'anti-American' Starbucks to 'make coffee great again'". Business Insider. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  24. Limitone, Julia (5 December 2017). "'Pro-America' Black Rifle Coffee becoming popular among conservatives, founder says". Fox News. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  25. Millard, Drew (26 May 2018). "The world's only pro-gun coffee tastes like burnt dirt". Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  26. "AR Flag Logo Solid Black FlexFit Cap – Black Rifle Coffee Company". web.archive.org. 2021-01-07. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  27. https://wpln.org/post/how-federal-agents-tracked-down-tennessees-zip-tie-guy/
  28. Miller, Michelle (3 February 2018). "Black Rifle Coffee: Behind the company selling beans with a message". CBS. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  29. Widener, Laura (8 July 2019). "Vet-owned Black Rifle Coffee to donate coffee to cops after Starbucks kicks out 6 officers". American Military News. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  30. "StackPath". www.vendingmarketwatch.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  31. Motorsports, J. R. "Bass Pro Shops, TrueTimber and Black Rifle Coffee Aboard Gragson's No. 9 Entry". www.jrmracing.com.
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