Kauai Coffee secures new lease, preserving 140 local jobs
Kauai Coffee’s new 15-year lease secures 140 jobs on its Kalāheo farm, ending months of layoffs fears and keeping the visitor center open.
Kauai Coffee locked in a new 15-year agricultural lease for its 3,100-acre farm at 870 Halewili Road in Kalāheo, preserving 140 local jobs.
The agreement was announced June 25, 2026, and was reached between Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA, Kauai Coffee’s parent company, and Brue Baukol Capital Partners, the Colorado-based firm that bought the property from Alexander & Baldwin in 2022. Kauai Coffee has operated on the land since the late 1980s, and the lease had been set to expire at the end of March 2026.
Brian Kubicki, Kauai Coffee’s general manager, said the company has always belonged to the people of Kauai. He said the new lease gives the operation a stable path forward and room for growth after two years of negotiations that at times stalled.
Earlier this year, the uncertainty raised concerns about mass layoffs involving 136 to 141 employees and even the potential closure of the island’s largest coffee farm. Operations continue without interruption, including online coffee orders, and its visitor center remains open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Brue Baukol Capital Partners is committed to keeping the farm open and maintaining agricultural use of the land. In January 2026, 3,700 acres associated with Kauai Coffee were designated Important Agricultural Lands, a status intended to keep land in agricultural use in perpetuity, even as the land remains under private ownership.
Kauai Coffee products carry Fair Trade USA, Rainforest Alliance and Non-GMO Project certifications.
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