Kaua'i Coffee Farm Lease Talks Continue as WARN Notice Gets Updated

Kaua'i Coffee Company has updated its WARN notice, pushing the potential layoff window for 136 employees from the original March 14–28 dates to April 18–May 2, 2026, as lease negotiations with landowner Brue Baukol Capital Partners continue without resolution.

The March 5 filing supplements an original WARN notice issued January 12, 2026, and reflects what the company described as meaningful, if incomplete, progress. "Although those negotiations remain ongoing, we believe sufficient progress has now been made to allow us to delay the contemplated closure of the business and termination of employees," the notice states. General manager Brian Kubicki was direct about what comes next: "While we cannot provide a formal update as negotiations remain ongoing, we want to be transparent that the WARN notices will be extended monthly as conversations continue beyond the current lease's end date."

The farm and coffee shop in Kalaheo remain open. Kauai Coffee, owned by Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA and widely recognized as the largest coffee farm in the United States, is negotiating to retain farming rights on more than 3,000 acres controlled by Brue Baukol Capital Partners, a Colorado investment firm. Kubicki stated plainly: "There are no plans to close Kauaʻi Coffeeʻs operations. We continue to engage in active discussions with the landowner and remain hopeful that these conversations will lead to a positive outcome."

The dispute between the two parties, however, has not budged in its essential contours. Kauai Coffee's WARN filing characterizes the situation as a forced exit, asserting the company is being pushed out because its lease is not being renewed. Brue Baukol Capital Partners has countered that the operator is choosing not to renew. Neither side has produced a signed agreement.

Of the roughly 136 to 140 employees affected, 69 are represented by International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142. Ilima Long, the union's communications representative, told Kaua'i Now that ILWU had no comment "at this time, but hopefully soon." Workers across farm operations, processing, and visitor center roles face the same uncertainty: each monthly WARN extension resets the clock by just 30 days, leaving employees without any clear signal of whether negotiations are closing in on a deal or simply delaying the inevitable. Several workers have already taken second jobs, unwilling to wait out a timeline that keeps shifting forward one month at a time.

Kauai Coffee filed the updated March 5 notice as a precaution under Hawaii's Dislocated Workers Act while simultaneously asserting the act does not formally apply, on the grounds that a landlord-driven closure constitutes an involuntary situation rather than a company-initiated shutdown. The federal WARN Act, which requires at least 60 days' advance notice of mass layoffs or closures, is the primary legal driver behind the rolling filings.

If negotiations collapse, the impact would extend well beyond the farm gate. The Kalaheo operation has historically provided seasonal and entry-level work for students and younger workers on Kaua'i, and a permanent closure would remove one of the island's most visible agricultural employers from the job market entirely. For now, the visitor center parking lot stays full and the coffee samples keep pouring, but the April 18 date is already circled on a calendar somewhere.