Daniel Slavin and Michael Miller have been friends for nearly 20 years. After retiring, they were looking for a new adventure—so they decided to open a coffee shop together in Lakewood Ranch. They chose to bring the Bad Ass Coffee of Hawaii franchise to the community, inspired by a Naples trip which led them to discover the delicious coffee beans grown in the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Maui, Moloka’i and the Kona and Ka’u districts of Hawaii.  “I tried Bad Ass Coffee down in Naples, and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this coffee is better than anything else.’ We were both retired, so we decided, ‘why not open a new coffee shop?’” Slavin says. “The coffee is a game-changer. Everybody just loves the Hawaiian coffee. It's a smooth, wonderful cup.” At Slavin and Miller’s shop, there’s a brew for everyone. While Slavin prefers a simple black coffee, the shop also offers a variety of unique flavors, including hazelnut, white chocolate, dark chocolate, caramel and even lavender. “It's really interesting to see what everybody chooses. I wouldn't think about putting lavender in my coffee if the world was on fire, but people love it. It's fun to see how people like their coffee,” Slavin says. Bad Ass Coffee also brings a taste of Hawaii to Lakewood Ranch with its aloha breakfast sandwich, which combines ham, eggs, barbecue sauce, pineapple and swiss cheese for a surprising burst of flavor. The Bad Ass sandwich brings similar flavors but replaces the ham with a thin slice of spam, a staple on the Hawaiian islands.  The brand’s name—eye-catching and, according to Slavin, a little cheeky—also has a story. In Hawaii, the donkeys of Kona carried coffee beans down the mountain after they were picked. Locals named these donkeys the “Bad Ass Ones” for their hardworking nature, and the legend of these donkeys now lives on in the franchise’s name.  Bad Ass Coffee isn’t just a grab-and-go kind of place. Slavin says he takes pride in creating a welcoming, community-focused space, where customers come by to work, socialize or read a good book. “It's the old school coffee house where people actually come to hang out. The mission of encouraging people to sit, relax and enjoy being together and having conversations has been a really rewarding part of this journey,” he says.