Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii](https://badasscoffee.com) is running its annual Give a Hoof donkey rescue campaign through August, this year anchored by the limited-edition Viejo blend — a new LTO roast named for a rescued donkey — with a stated fundraising goal of at least $20,000 across three sanctuary partners.

The 45-plus-unit Hawaiian-coffee franchise, which has more than 100 additional shops in various stages of development, kicked off the campaign August 3. The Viejo blend retails for $25 per bag, with $5 per unit directed to sanctuary partners. Production is limited, and availability runs online and at participating franchise locations while supplies last. The round-up mechanic — allowing in-store guests to round up their purchase total — supplements direct bag sales and on-site donations as the brand's three primary fundraising channels for the month.

The Sanctuary Network

Proceeds are split among three rescue organizations: Longhopes Donkey Shelter in Colorado and Leilani Farm Sanctuary in Hawaii, both returning partners from prior Give a Hoof cycles, and Oscar's Place, a California-based operation joining the program for the first time. Ron King, Co-Founder of Oscar's Place, framed the stakes plainly: "Donkeys are intelligent, emotional animals, and far too many of them end up abandoned or at risk. Every dollar raised means more donkeys get the food, shelter and care they need."

For the franchise system, the campaign also carries brand-equity weight. The chain's origin story is rooted in the generations of Kona-area donkeys — historically called "the badass ones" — that transported coffee harvest down the Big Island's steep volcanic slopes. That narrative thread gives Give a Hoof a differentiation angle that most specialty-coffee LTOs lack, tying product storytelling directly to cause marketing without relying solely on price promotion.

Franchise and Channel Outlook

Give a Hoof operates under Bad Ass For Good, the brand's philanthropic platform. Chief Brand & Strategy Officer Iain Douglas noted the Viejo blend was designed to "raise more funds" beyond prior campaign formats — suggesting the $5-per-bag mechanism was chosen to improve per-transaction donation yield relative to round-up-only programs.

The broader commercial picture for Bad Ass Coffee includes a pipeline of 100-plus units in development, alongside a planned expansion into grocery, hospitality, and specialty retail channels — moves that would extend the brand's premium Hawaiian-coffee positioning well beyond its current franchise footprint. For franchisees, cause-marketing campaigns with a defined LTO product and a clear fundraising target offer a measurable traffic and check-building tool during what is traditionally a competitive summer daypart window for specialty beverage operators.

For operators tracking the specialty-coffee segment, the Give a Hoof model is worth noting: a named-rescue LTO with a hard retail price point, a fixed per-unit donation, and a multi-channel participation mechanic gives franchisees a structured promotional framework rather than an open-ended charity ask. Whether the $20,000 target is met will serve as a benchmark for how the brand scales the program in future years as its unit count grows.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.