Although the coffee sector is one of the hottest areas of foodservice these days, up-and-coming concept Bad Ass Coffee is going against the grain of most of its bigger competitors. While Starbucks, Dunkin’, and Dutch Bros are largely focused on convenience, Hawaii-based Bad Ass Coffee is targeting the “sip and savor crowd.” As an emerging brand at 31 locations and counting, Bad Ass Coffee recently hired Ivy Hanks (formerly of Tropical Smoothie Cafe) as director of franchise marketing and Eleanor Schwartz (formerly of Caribou Coffee) as director of brand engagement to bring Bad Ass Coffee to the next phase of growth and name recognition.
“As you talk about household coffee names like Starbucks or Dunkin’ that focus on convenience, something that’s unique about Bad Ass Coffee is while we can cater to that guest too, we’re really an experiential brand,” Schwartz said. “Guests want to come in, they want to sit down, and they want to spend time there. That’s going to continue to be a differentiator for us, along with the cheeky name that makes people do a double take.”
Bad Ass Coffee got its start in 1989 on the big island of Hawaii, and although in the early years much of their expansion happened on the islands of Hawaii, the company lately has focused expansion efforts through franchising on the Mainland (as Hawaiians typically refer to the continental U.S.) Bad Ass Coffee has stores in the pipeline in Texas, Tennessee, Florida, New Jersey, and more.
Both Hanks and Schwartz started at the same time at the company in February. Hanks grew up in Atlanta, which is “pretty much the capital of franchising” in foodservice these days, she said. She spent more than four years moving up through the ranks of the marketing department at Tropical Smoothie Café and trying out various roles before coming to Bad Ass Coffee where she’s “now here doing all of it at once.”
Schwartz, meanwhile, has both a deep connection to Hawaii and to coffee culture. She currently lives in Oahu and has lived in Hawaii on and off for the past eight years. Before starting her brand specialist role at Caribou Coffee, Schwartz worked on a Kona coffee farm, where she gained experience chopping down cane grass with a machete, picking coffee cherries, and bringing them to the roaster.
One of the biggest challenges for both Hanks and Schwartz in their new roles is to make sure to tell the story of Bad Ass Coffee and keep the culture of Kona coffee alive, no matter where the brand opens its next store.
“There’s this creative tension between our heritage and keeping up with those other coffee brands, and also keeping that connection between nostalgia and novelty,” Schwartz said. “We’re always finding ways to share our brand in a way that resonates with those who have been to Hawaii and maybe our Maui stores, whether it’s a Spam sandwich, or playlists featuring songs and artists you’d hear on the radio in Hawaii…. We want our brand to be approachable without watering it down.”
One of the next major steps for Bad Ass Coffee is to recruit more franchisees, and although the company recently set up a franchising website to get the word out, much of the interest from potential franchisees has through word of mouth and from people who experienced the brand while visiting Hawaii. In October, Bad Ass Coffee will have its first franchise convention “to get the whole ohana together in one place for the weekend,” Schwartz said.
“Brand awareness is so easy when you're a huge brand with a wide footprint,” Hanks said. “We’re focused on ‘boots on the ground’ local store marketing. It’s about getting people in the store to try that first cup of coffee and feel the Aloha spirit.”
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