TUSCALOOSA, Ala. >> It's not the java that's drawing attention at a new coffee shop located on University of Alabama land -- it's the name. Isle-founded coffee chain
riles Alabama cityBad Ass Coffee Shop is
"shocking," Tuscaloosa
city councilor proclaimsAssociated Press
The Bad Ass Coffee Shop, a Hawaii-founded chain, doesn't open until Saturday, but a city leader already is calling the name "shocking."
"We don't presently have a mechanism to do anything about it, and it disturbs me that any cuss words can be used without any legitimacy and licensed by the city," City Council member Joe Powell said during a meeting Tuesday.
Even some students understand Powell's complaint. "It's not offensive to me, but I can see how it can be offensive to some people," said Casey Vaughan.
The shop is located in University Town Center on land owned by the university, which leases it to a developer, Bayer Properties of Birmingham.
The Bad Ass Coffee Co. of Hawaii chain opened its first store in Kailua-Kona in 1989 and has since opened stores in Utah, Alaska, Florida, Virginia and Canada.
According to the coffee company, the name of the shop refers to donkeys once heard echoing through the coffee-rich mountains of Kona as they hauled heavy loads of beans up and down the mountainside.
Coffee shop owners Robert Derieux and Forrest Doles, both from Birmingham, said the uproar over the name is unnecessary because it's all about the donkey.
"If other people take the name of the company in other ways, then that's their problem," said Doles, who operates the store under a franchise agreement with The Bad Ass Coffee Co.
In the six months it has taken to get the coffee shop off the ground, Doles said he has heard nothing negative about the name until Tuesday.
"The coffee shop is about a real cute Hawaiian coffee concept," he said. "When people come by and see the shop, they'll understand."
Powell doesn't agree.
"I'm not up here to solve all of the community's ills, but we're quick to act on some things and not on others," he said. "Someday, somebody is going to come along with a name that's really shocking."
One council member said he wasn't too worried about the coffee shop's name. "I'd much rather concentrate on kids in schools that wear their pants dropped," said Harrison Taylor.
The Bad Ass Coffee Co.
City of Tuscaloosa