Black Rifle Coffee Company

Politics and business can be a sour mix, as the leaders of this shrinking coffee chain can attest. Black Rifle was founded by a former Green Beret as a company selling "premium coffee to people who love America." It was openly supportive of conservative and pro-gun causes, and positioned itself as a champion of military veterans and law-enforcement professionals. That might have been fine if persons at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, hadn't reported seeing some of the attackers wearing Black Rifle merch. The brand's logo was also reportedly sported by Kyle Rittenhouse, the young man who shot and killed two Black Lives Matter protestors in Wisconsin. In the aftermath, Black Rifle tried to distance itself from hardcore gun-advocacy and far-right groups. But it acknowledged that is coffee-shop business has struggled. The company said it will continue to focus on selling coffee via the internet and big-brand retailers like Walmart until it reads the moment as being right to invest again in its own brick-and-mortar outlets.