FL
In Florida, TikTok’s reach is as long and crucial as the state’s many miles of coastline. It’s a crucial commerce hub for millions of people and thousands of businesses across the state.
Small business owners in Florida are seeing TikTok bring value to their businesses—it’s helping them to sell out.
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Wild LLC
Destin, FL
Wild Destin is a cafe serving fresh cut to order coconuts, pineapples, and watermelons from homemade outrigger canoes to tourists on Florida’s waterways. Also known as “the coconut girl from TikTok,” owner, Michaela, and her employees found popularity and haven’t looked back — now they have been featured on the front page of travel magazines and hear their name shared on local radio stations. When they finally went viral, Wild grossed half a million dollars in sales and not a day has gone by where their TikToks aren’t referenced by patrons. young entrepreneur
- woman owned
- young entrepreneur
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Gale Force Twins
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Founded by twin sisters Emile and Amanda Gale, Gale Force Twins started out as a charter fishing business in 2017. Like many small businesses in the travel and tourism industry, Gale Force was forced to shut down during pandemic. Looking for options to keep their business afloat, Emile and Amanda began selling gear and creating educational and entertaining fishing content on social media - but it's TikTok that the sisters credit with "helping our business grow like crazy." After going viral for the first time in Feb. 2021, they made more sales in 30 days than they had in the entire year before joining TikTok! Overall, Gale Force saw a nearly 1500% increase in sales after their first year on TikTok, a figure they more than DOUBLED in their second year on the platform. Thanks to this explosive growth, Emilie and Amanda have been able to launch their own line of fishing gear and apparel and make fishing and boating more accessible to women and young girls.
- woman owned
- young entrepreneur
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The Local - St. Augustine
St. Augustine, FL
The Local is a 20-room hotel located on Anastasia Island, just minutes from historic downtown St. Augustine. Owners Leila and Adam transformed the roadside motel into their dream boutique hotel and began sharing their experience on TikTok. The pair credit just one viral post with boosting brand awareness and generating a 10X increase in website traffic. Since then, the small hotel has accumulated more than 40K followers on TikTok, expanding their reach far beyond Florida and leading to an increase in direct bookings.
- family run
- woman owned
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Muchachas
Tampa, FL
Starting a business, especially a restaurant, during the pandemic wasn't exactly easy, but that's exactly what Stephanie Swanz did with her business, Muchachas! After learning about TikTok following her restaurant's opening, Stephanie assembled a full TikTok team to let the world know about their business through videos of the food, staff, and general fun. The choice paid off, with the restaurant’s first viral video leading to a one-week 50% increase in sales, and customers coming in and recognizing the staff from TikTok. Now, Stephanie is working on an expansion, all made possible with TikTok.
- woman owned
- minority owned
- young entrepreneur
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Empamama
Tampa, FL
Located in Tampa, FL, empamamas serves not so basic empanadas, tacos and street eats. At their core, they believe in serving a great experience along with great food but also that marketing and branding is essential to the success of any small business. Empamama loves being part of the TikTok platform and have not only have seen a direct increase in sales when videos go viral but have gained numerous customers from all over the world - people have actually booked their vacation to Tampa just to visit empamamas because they saw us them TikTok. In addition, they have found it has made a positive impact in company culture and have even welcomed team members who found them on the platform.
- woman owned
- minority owned
Oxford Economics surveyed 1,050 small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and 7,500 individuals using TikTok to learn how businesses and users interact with the app and leverage it as a tool to grow their business, stay connected, and contribute to their local economies.