TikTok and lattes make the perfect blend for Toronto coffee company going viral
Global News
Two simple words -- "my friend" -- have made Caitlin Campbell and Street Brew Coffee a global success and vaulted her into the hearts of so many.
“My friend.”
Those two words have built a community and connection for Caitlin Campbell. The cheery-faced Torontonian can be found every Sunday during the summer at the Leslieville Farmers’ Market at her coffee trailer, saying those words — to every customer.
“I say it to have that connection with people. I truly see every single person who comes through the trailer as my friend,” said Campbell, the proprietor and owner of Street Brew Coffee.
The coffee company originally launched at trade shows in 2019, though her father, Ross, had been roasting beans for years before.
“Friends and family would taste them and tell me to go back to the drawing table. I did, and I did until we got to a good place,” he said. “We started it, and Caitlin has taken it somewhere I could never imagine.”
Through just two words, Campbell became a viral sensation online, boasting 1.1 million followers on TikTok, many of whom love her attitude, interactions, and now-famous catchphrase. Many of her videos regularly topped five million views, sometimes as many as 15 million people watching her bite-sized content.
“I didn’t even know what I was saying until the first vlog that I posted on Twitter, and it went crazy viral — and everyone said, ‘My friend, that’s gold, we love that!” she said.
For Campbell, it was customary to address people who visited her coffee trailer as “my friend”, a phrase she said she’d been using for years. And it naturally came out when she chatted with folks wanting a morning brew and it caught on.