We returned to the Kauai Coffee visitor center this week. What brought us back was a new development. Kauai Coffee quietly extended its WARN notice to roughly 140 workers on March 5, pushing the original layoff timeline further out while lease negotiations continue.
We saw a parking lot full of cars, with visitors still lining up for coffee samples on the lanai. In some ways, it seems busier than ever. Maybe that’s because the uncertainty has been so widely publicized. The employees pouring coffee and working in the shop and food service aren’t sure how much longer they’ll have jobs, and that’s where this tragedy has landed.
If you didn’t already know the backstory, you wouldn’t think anything was wrong. There are no signs posted, and nobody is making announcements to visitors. In fact, if anything, they are avoiding talking about what’s going on. The entire farm looks like a place that expects to be open tomorrow, next month, and next year.
Talking to employees tells a different story. One woman who appeared to be a manager shut down the conversation quickly and said they didn’t know anything beyond what had already been reported publicly. Other workers on this visit, and on previous ones, were more transparent about how things feel inside the operation right now.
What we kept hearing from employees was uncertainty.
Several employees said they still don’t know whether negotiations between the companies involved are improving or simply stretching out the same deadline. Others said they have already taken second or pending jobs because they cannot assume they will still be employed in a few weeks.
Last Thursday, the company extended its WARN notice to about 140 employees. The original filing warned layoffs could begin March 14 and run through March 28, the day the farm’s land lease expires. The new notice gives workers another short extension while negotiations continue.
General manager Brian Kubicki confirmed that the company plans to extend the WARN notice monthly while discussions continue past the original lease deadline. Kauai Coffee says it has no plans to shut down operations, but the rolling extensions mean the workers are living on rolling deadlines of just one month.
Each extension buys a little time and pushes the layoff start date back. None of the employees we spoke with said they knew how the negotiations were actually going or what the final outcome might be.
The basic dispute between the two companies remains unchanged.
Kauai Coffee’s WARN filing says the company is being forced out of business because its lease is not being renewed. The landowner, Brue Baukol Capital Partners, says the operator is choosing not to renew the lease.
BBCP has posted its version of events on a website, kauaicoffeefacts.com, where it says it intends to keep coffee growing on the land if Kauai Coffee leaves. Kauai Coffee’s position remains that the company is being pushed out. Both claims clearly cannot be true at the same time.
From the parking lot, the farm still looks as good as ever. Visitors walk in, drink coffee, and leave with bags from the gift shop. Inside the workforce is waiting to find out whether the next extension leads to a deal or the same outcome pushed a few weeks further down the road.
The visitor center is still open, and the coffee samples are still being poured. The people pouring it are still waiting to find out what happens next, and how their work lives will unfold.
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Hi Rob+Jeff just so you know, been a long time visitor and buyer of Kauai Coffee. Even here on the mainland in Los Angeles. Just noticed on this latest purchase that it is no longer being sent from Kauai. Being sent from Massimo Zannetti Beverage USA Suffolk, Va USA 23434. Says it all, wouldn’t you agree?
One look at their corporate website tells you everything you need to know about Brue Baukol Capital Partners.
“Brue Baukol Capital Partners focuses on delivering excellent returns to equity partners through the creation of value-add strategies, which seek to maximize annual returns as well as long-term capital appreciation.”
Private equity real estate investment firms should be banned from owning land in Hawai’i nei.
After all (20) of these years of visiting the Garden Island (odd-year timeshare), we finally came back to Los Angeles to find Kauai Coffee at our local grocery store (Von’s/Albertson’s/Safeway)!
The only thing one can say about this whole situation is that it is a mess for everyone. It’s a shame, and no matter what is decided in the end, there will most likely be hardship for everyone involved. Where are all the great politicians of Hawaii that you would think would step in and try to save this precious parcel of land for agriculture. You know the ones that always talk about preserving culture and Heritage and tradition. However I’m sure someone’s pockets are being lined with cash so that they can build condos and a golf course for the wealthy that the governor is so eager to have in Hawaii, and completely destroy a unique and beautiful coffee plantation. Absolutely disgusting!
We visited Kauai Coffee three weeks ago and we talked with a lady who seemed to be some type of manager. I told her what I had read on BOH and she said I seemed to know more about what’s going on than she did. She also pointed out a QR code on a sign by her stand that explained what Kauai Coffee thought was going on. All the workers though seemed quite depressed. Once again, money and greed seems to be the prevailing motivator in Kauai’s future.
Stopped there yesterday and it looked normal, business as usual… but at check out, the attitude from the sales person was cold. I’ve been buying coffee for years and always got a smile and a mahalo when finishing my purchase. I hope something positive happens this business. Mahalo for all the articles and opinions you write! Property owner on Kaua’i for 27 years and visitor starting in 1968.
What a shame it would be to have them close their operation and lose all of that beautiful agricultural land. Especially if it goes to another golf course and more expensive and only partially occupied vacation homes.
“The landowner, Brue Baukol Capital Partners, says the operator is choosing not to renew the lease.”
That is not what the website says. It says they are in negotiations. If the operator (Kauai Coffee) were choosing not to renew the lease there would be no controversy and they would simply be closing.
It might be true that they will not be willing renew the lease at the terms being offered by BBCP, but that is not the same thing.
If Kauai Coffee is truly beginning to despair they ought to publish the current lease agreement and what is currently being offered and explain why it is unacceptable. Sunlight is a wonderful disinfectant.
It isn’t a case where it is the same amount and Kauai Coffee isn’t agreeing to pay. There is a press release from Kauai Coffee here:
kauaicoffee.com/pages/kauai-coffee-land-lease-operation-latest-update
I’ll quote the relevant part:
“Why can’t you negotiate? What’s taking so long?
We are and have been actively engaged in ongoing discussions with the landowner for some time. If this was a continuation of our current lease, we would have signed the lease a long time ago. Negotiations take time, and we are urgently working toward an outcome that is in the best interests of Kauai Coffee Company, our employees, the land, and the community. “