Black Rifle Coffee (BRC)

The company was founded in December 2014 by former Green Beret Evan Hafer. He began by selling a small volume of his "Freedom Roast" coffee through a friend's apparel website. The coffee sold well, so Hafer launched his own brand and website through which to sell his coffee and branded accessories. The company specializes in its online, direct-to-consumer coffee subscription service, which had over 100,000 subscribers as of 2020. In addition to online sales, Black Rifle Coffee Company has physical coffee shops in Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and Georgia. The coffee is also distributed at some firing ranges, 5.11 Tactical stores, and Bass Pro Shops.BRCC has produced a number of sometimes controversial social media videos which combine military humor with hipster jokes and guns.In 2017, BRCC expanded into Canada with a division based in Alberta and led by CEO Darren Weeks.In 2018, BRCC opened a new coffee roasting facility in Manchester, Tennessee, as part of a $6 million investment in the state. It also launched Coffee or Die Magazine, an online news and lifestyle publication that reports on military, veteran, law enforcement, and coffee topics.In 2018, the company's gross revenue totaled $30 million. In 2019, BRCC employed more than 200 people — 40 percent of them veterans of the U.S. military. At the time of reporting, their products were available at 1,700 retail locations across the country. On September 29, 2019, BRCC opened its first stand-alone licensed coffee shop in Boerne, Texas. According to the Washington Examiner, circa 2021 they employed approximately 550 people, half of whom were veterans, military spouses or reservists.The company expanded in 2020 with the release of ready-to-drink canned iced coffee. In March 2020, BRCC launched a coffee-donation campaign to support medical and emergency workers, quarantined military personnel and their families, and others working to mitigate the national and global impact of COVID-19. In May, a Canadian gun ban enacted following the 2020 Nova Scotia attacks was mistakenly thought to include a ban on the coffee company, but further inspection revealed that the ban was actually applied to a similarly named Arizona-based "Black Rifle Company". In July, BRCC provided a $15,000 grant to the Hunter Seven Foundation, supporting a new round of medical research exploring the effects of toxic exposure in Afghanistan.A July 2021 article in The New York Times, Hafer describes his vision for growth of the physical franchised stores using retired military NCO's. He sees Navy petty officers and Army staff sergeants joining the company and running a franchise of their own rather than joining the local police force in their hometowns.BRCC plans to expand into the Philippines by 2023, after receiving interest from the Filipino people.

SPAC

In November 2021, Black Rifle Coffee Company merged with SilverBox Engaged Merger Corporation via a special-purpose acquisition company in an effort to raise funds for expansion and to go public. The company has a valuation of approximately $1.7 billion. The merger completed in February 2022.