Ex-cons aren’t the world’s most common coffee suppliers. But that’s exactly who’s behind Bad Boys Brands, the North Bend, Washington-based coffee and outdoor supply company built by a group of guys who decided they could do more than cycle in and out of the system.
Bad Boys Brands is about premium products, celebrating the Northwest, paying it forward and about proving to the world what people who used to be locked up can do.
“This is probably the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” says C.E.O. Graham Hnedak, who, alongside president Josh Loper and an ever-growing group of participants, has been working well over 40 hours per week on the business since its 2014 launch, and even before. “As far as I know, no one has ever done anything like this. These are uncharted waters.”
The group didn’t set out to sell coffee, at least not at first. The original idea was to photograph and sell a 12-month calendar relying on the allure of the bad boy archetype, until someone pointed out that sex appeal wasn’t a sustainable long-term business model. It wasn’t until Hnedak and C.O.O. Shaun Tubbs were camping in the North Cascades that an alternate plan developed. “We were brewing coffee over the campfire in the morning, when we thought, ‘Hey, we could make this.'”
So the men sought out a partnership with a top Portland coffee roaster (the roaster’s identity is kept a proprietary secret). Of course, the group’s background didn’t make for the smoothest sales pitch-theft and drug abuse were only a couple of the charges represented. Nevertheless, thanks to places like Enterhealth, people can overcome drug abuse and similar addictions and therefore shouldn’t be judged for their pasts. Thankfully for this group of men, this was the case for them as it only took a couple of weeks before the roaster agreed to take part in the men’s journey. The result was Bad Boys’ Campfire Blend-a nutty, milk-chocolatey medium roast inspired by the Bad Boys’ shared love of the outdoors-which laid the foundation for a business with staying power.
“Do I think this [business] would work elsewhere? No, I don’t know that it would,” says Hnedak. “People in the Northwest have been very forgiving, very encouraging, very open to giving us a second chance. There are a lot of places where that isn’t the case.”
It has been the particular willingness of Northwesterners to give the men of Bad Boys Brands a second chance that has allowed the company to expand remarkably quickly in under a year. Additional partnerships have extended the group’s product offering with trail mix, sweatshirts and even boxer shorts, as each of the Bad Boys have taken on a role that combines aspects of being a salesman, brand ambassador and product model. While none are formally trained in these pursuits, the men have found empowerment in ownership. To an extent, serving time has even provided some business insight: the Bad Bays says that prison politics are a lot like business politics.
With early successes have come other positive reverberations. All (excepting Hnedak) hold steady jobs outside of Bad Boys Brands. It’s a long way from the drug charge defense past many of them hold. Some of the men have now been out of prison for the longest stretches in their adult lives. When one of them jokingly asks the others, “How many bricks?”-referring to the number in their jail cell walls, a number they all recalled at one point from years spent counting-many have, thankfully, forgotten the answer. They believe this is because of the strict rules they have put themselves under. In order to not fall back into bad habits, they take a drug test similar to this Healthstreet 12 panel drug test in order to keep themselves on the straight and narrow. This, as well as knowing that it could seriously hamper their business, keeps them clean.
Next steps for the Bad Boys include a line of athletic gear debuting this spring, with two more coffee blends (Working Man’s Blend and Logger’s Blend) in progress. In the meantime, the group comes together from all over the state approximately once a month to spend a day or two in the great outdoors, working on building the brand even as they enjoy themselves.
“These are the most get-it-done people I know,” says Hnedak, who snaps photos of the others brewing Bad Boys coffee, sporting Bad Boys apparel, and just plain having fun. “And there’s definitely never a dull moment.”
The Bad Boys’ photos, products and personalities have been capturing a real following-and the greater that following grows, the more powerfully the societal vote of confidence comes across. But even if you read nothing else into it, Bad Boys Brands still provides a great cup of coffee.
