Black Rifle Coffee Honors Fallen Soldiers With “Folded Flag” Music Video

Black Rifle Coffee Company is taking a different approach to Memorial Day this year. Instead of pushing discount codes, co-founder Mat Best released “Folded Flag” — an original song and music video dedicated to fallen service members and the Gold Star families they leave behind. The veteran-founded brand also pledged $150,000 to the Major Brent Taylor Foundation to support events connecting Gold Star families with community resources.

A Song Born From Personal Loss

Best wrote the song in memory of his friend Luke, who died in 2008. He hopes the video shifts public focus away from barbecues and back to the true meaning of the holiday — honoring generations of sacrifice, from the beaches of Normandy to the battlefields of the Global War on Terror.

Black Rifle Coffee was founded in 2014 by Best and CEO Evan Hafer, a former Special Forces soldier who once roasted coffee from the back of a truck during the Iraq invasion. What began as a basement operation grew into a nationally recognized brand serving veterans, active-duty military, and first responders.

Mission Baked Into the Business

When the company went public, it became a public benefit corporation — giving it a formal fiduciary responsibility to support its community. Philanthropy is central to its identity, not an afterthought. The Foundation funding will help bring 50 to 60 Gold Star families together at Fort Benning for networking and support programs.

For Best, business and service have always run parallel. The accountability he learned in the 75th Ranger Regiment, he says, translates directly into entrepreneurship.