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SALT LAKE CITY — Even coffee isn’t above politics. Especially not if you consider a Salt Lake roaster that calls itself "the world’s premium conservative coffee company."
Evan Hafer was a Special Forces soldier and a CIA contractor. A few years later, he launched Black Rifle Coffee.
"You know, I didn’t start it as a conservative company, I started it as a conservative starting a company," he said.
Now, through irreverent and sometimes politically-incorrect online videos, the company ties its product to conservative ideology and a pro-gun rights stance.
Hafer says the company simply reflects the guy who started it.
"I’m just trying to be transparent and truthful to my customer base," he said. "I shoot, I hunt, I believe in states' rights. I support a lot of things that are typically going to be seen as conservative."
Hafer’s partisan approach has made headlines.
When Fox News host Sean Hannity defended Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, accused of making sexual advances toward teenage girls, the Keurig coffee company pulled ads from Hannity’s show.
Angry viewers smashed Keurig machines and posted videos of the destruction online and Donald Trump Jr. stepped into the fray with a tweet endorsing Black Rifle Coffee. Trump Jr. later visited Black Rifle headquarters during a visit to Utah.
When Starbucks announced it would hire 10,000 refugees after President Trump blocked immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the country, Hafer announced he would hire 10,000 veterans.
He says right now, 60 of his 100 employees are veterans.
The political branding has apparently worked. Hafer started Black Rifle as a garage business in 2014 with $1,800. Last year, he says he sold $30 million of coffee.
University of Utah business professor Scott Schaefer credits the conservative label. In a crowded coffee industry, he says it’s hard to stand out – but Black Rifle’s brand has done just that.
"I think that there is this whitewash of authenticity in America with corporate culture. Nobody wants to make a mistake and nobody wants to tell people who they really are," said Hafer. "That’s not me … I’ve earned the right to tell people who I am and what I think and what I stand for."
