Kauai Coffee layoffs have just been pushed back to May. The parent company also just named a new president. And both sides suddenly sound different. Two things happened this week around Kauai Coffee, and the timing is significant.
The company extended layoff notices again, now pushing potential job losses to a new time frame between April 18 and May 2. At the same time, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA announced a new president, Matthew Smith, who now oversees all U.S. operations, including Kauai Coffee.
Neither development alone would signal as much. Taken together, the noticeably softer tone coming from both sides of the lease dispute suggests that something has shifted.
The new dates.
The original WARN filing earlier this year warned that layoffs could begin March 14 and run through March 28, the day the Kauai Coffee farm’s land lease expires. That timeline was pushed once already, and the new extension moves potential layoffs again.
General manager Brian Kubicki has said WARN extensions will continue monthly as negotiations move forward. The company maintains that it has no plans to shut down operations.
The tone shift.
Both sides sound different from how they did even just a week ago. Kubicki has publicly expressed optimism that discussions could lead to a deal that allows coffee farming to continue on the land.
BBCP vice president James Priestley has also said the two companies are “dedicated to finalizing a new lease.” That language is a long way from the WARN filing that said Kauai Coffee was “being forced out of business” and the landowner’s launch of kauaicoffeefacts.com to present its own different version of events.
The change in tone does not mean a deal has been reached, or necessarily will be. But it is noticeably different from where things stood very recently in the dispute.
The new executive.
At the same time negotiations continue, Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA announced that Matthew Smith has been promoted to president of the company’s U.S. operations. Smith previously served as the company’s senior vice president of sales and marketing and will now work alongside CEO Scott Meader on long-term strategy and growth.
The company operates several national coffee brands in addition to Kauai Coffee, including Chock full o’Nuts, Hills Bros., MJB, Chase & Sanborn, and Segafredo Zanetti. Whether Smith’s promotion affects the negotiations over Kauai Coffee or simply reflects broader corporate planning is not clear, but the timing places new leadership over the company’s U.S. operations while the lease dispute continues.
What’s still unresolved.
No lease agreement has been announced, and the underlying issues between the companies remain completely undisclosed. Massimo Zanetti has acknowledged that unresolved points remain, but has not specified what they are.
Workers’ jobs remain in limbo while negotiations continue. The softer language could signal progress, or it could simply reflect both sides stepping back from the very public fight.
What hasn’t changed.
The visitor center remains open, and the farm is still operating, including tours. Workers continue showing up while negotiations play out behind the scenes.
For full background on the dispute and what employees are experiencing on the ground, see our recent coverage: Kauai Coffee Looks Normal. The Workers Know It Isn’t. and Who’s Destroying Kauai Coffee? Now No One Can Agree..
The tone has clearly changed this week. Whether that change leads to an actual agreement is something no one outside the negotiations can yet answer.
After months of deadlines and delays, do you think Kauai Coffee is actually closer to staying?
Lead Photo Credit: © Beat of Hawaii at Kauai Coffee Visitor Center with its famous rooster.
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Sincerely hope so! Kauai Coffee is special!
It is nice not to read about Brian Kubicki sounding a 3-alarm media fire over and over.
He might’ve been forced into it by upper management, but sometimes, less said the better.
When my husband and I discovered Kauai Coffee on our first trip to Kauai, we have been drinking it at home ever since. To support the island economy, and the wonderful employees who work there, we order our coffee directly from Kauai Coffee. We always bring some home to family and friends whenever we visit Kauai. We have been hoping that both sides can come to an agreement.
Thank you for enlightening us, as disheartening as it is to find out that Kauai Coffee Plantation is not owned by a local farmer. I never thought that the company who owned Kauai Coffee also owned coffees like Chock full o’Nuts etc. Even worst, to find out that Kauai coffee farmers don’t own their land. I know native Hawaiians believed that water and land belonged to everyone and I don’t disagree with that. However, because of that belief, they are now dependent on those who bought the land, having to lease it from them.