Nearly 100 people representing various industries gathered last week in Bellevue to hear small businesses discuss their use of TikTok to expand their business and reach new customers.
They met during a joint event by the Bellevue Chamber and TikTok, which also has an office in the city’s downtown.
Nicolas Le Bourgeois, U.S. operations director for TikTok Shop, said many Washington industries are finding a home on TikTok, which he called a launchpad for a new generation of storytellers and businesses.
“For entrepreneurs specifically, TikTok is a space where businesses of all sizes can thrive and build meaningful connections with their target audiences,” he said in a joint news release after the event at the Bellevue Botanical Garden.
Event panelists included Trey Jackson, marketing manager for Visit Bellevue; Chen Dien, who founded Vietnamese coffee shop Coffeeholic House with his wife, Trang Cao; and Izaiah Ellis, founder of ice cream shop Cryo Rolls. The audience included attendees from restaurants, city government, real-estate companies, hotels, schools, foundations, entertainment, banks, and local chambers of commerce.
Joe Fain, president and CEO of the Bellevue Chamber, called the event an opportunity for small businesses to learn about the platform, its new tools, and to hear from businesses using it.
Dien and his wife opened their first Coffeeholic in Seattle and now have three, including one in Bellevue, plus a new M Cozy Fusion Café in University Village. They estimate at least half their customers come from TikTok, according to the release.
“We just opened our Bellevue location last year and we did a lot of content leading up to the event and we had never seen a line like that before,” Dien said in the release. “It was almost more than a mile long, 600 people. I do think that it’s lucky for us that before when everyone was staying in the house during the pandemic, because of this one TikTok video everyone in Seattle knew about our little coffee shop.”
Ellis began Cryo Rollswith as a small cart, but after starting his TikTok account, he went viral and the business took off. He credits TikTok for the success, including being able to open his own store and collaborate with other brands like Darigold. TikTok drives an average 60,000 people to Cryo Rolls’ website each month.
“My sixth video went viral on TikTok and we just kept plugging away and growing our brand,” Ellis said in the release. “Once I grew the brand, I was able to attract investor attention and was able to sell a chunk of the company to fund the opening of our second location.”
Visit Bellevue’s Jackson said the destination management organization has a vibrant TikTok presence with videos showcasing city attractions and driving traffic to local businesses.
“By showcasing the unique experiences and vibrant community that Bellevue offers, we’re not just promoting tourism — we’re turning those discoveries into real-world visits and increased visitor spending,” he said in the release. “This platform allows us to highlight authentic stories that resonate with today’s travelers.”
Washington state ranked ninth among the top 10 states based on contribution to state GDP supported by small- and midsize businesses’ activity on TikTok.
TikTok’s economic impact in Washington was captured in a report earlier this year from Oxford Economics, which noted that small and midsize businesses’ use of TikTok contributed $550 million to the state’s gross domestic product in 2023; generated nearly $130 million in federal, state, and local tax revenue; and supported 4,400 Washington jobs.
According to the report, 95% of the small- and midsize businesses in Washington said their sales increased after promoting their products and services on TikTok and 83% of them sold out after promoting on the platform.
Oxford Economics last year, in collaboration with TikTok, measured the economic value of the platform to local communities nationally after surveying 1,050 small- and midsize businesses and 7,500 TikTok users from all 50 states, including 35 Washington businesses and 170 consumers. All respondents that completed the survey were recruited independently of TikTok. The full report is here.
TikTok, which has about 7,000 employees nationally, has its local office in the Key Center in Bellevue. Employee counts are not provided by location.