OpsLens Deck of 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders
In 2018, as a spin-off and salute to the original 2003 deck of 52 Most Wanted playing cards, let’s honor post 9/11 frontline leaders here at home. Once a week, for 52 weeks this year, OpsLens will post a card highlighting one of the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders. You’ll learn the top facts about their business or organization, as well as why they made the list, which comes down to impact, scalability, health, and unique value proposition.
I encourage you to look for these weekly updates, share the card with your network, and support or buy the products and services they offer. See the 52 Most Wanted Post 9/11 Frontline Leaders launch story here.
10 of Spades | Black Rifle Coffee Company
Very few CEOs can say they spent years—years—of their lives serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even fewer have returned home to launch a company offering a high-quality product that they were fine-tuning on those deployments—and with an unshakable resolve to employ veterans embedded in their business model. Founder and former Green Beret Evan Hafer launched Black Rifle Coffee Company in 2014, a premium small-batch, roast-to-order coffee available for purchase online, and an operation staffed by more than 50 percent former military service members. In 2017, BRCC sold over a million pounds of coffee, continued to scale a popular apparel and gear product line, and made the bold pledge to hire 10,000 veterans over the next five years (which entails rolling out a franchise program). This story alone is inimitable and laudable in its own right. Yet this company also stands out from the crowd for another reason—their shock and awe, irreverent marketing that takes a satirical approach to showcasing their values. Nonetheless, their uniquely humorous, edgy branding (i.e., waging guerilla warfare on the coffee establishment) is merely the side show to their proactive effort to be a responsible, strong steward of the military tribe, championing the unequivocal value veterans bring to America’s culture.
Black Rifle Coffee Company is a frontline leader that should be on your list of most wanted businesses to support in 2018.
Frontline Leader (Founder(s)): Evan Hafer.
Name of Company/Organization: Black Rifle Coffee Company, founded 2014.
Location: HQ is in San Antonio, Texas, with offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and an additional roasting site (COP) outside Nashville, Tennessee.
Post 9/11 Service Connection: U.S. Army (Special Forces, Green Beret) and U.S. government.
Tours of Duty: Multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan, elsewhere.
One sentence tagline & mission statement: Fresh Roasted Freedom.
Company / organization website: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/
