Viral TikTok sends Snohomish, WA coffee stand into a frenzy
SNOHOMISH, Wash. - A small coffee stand in Snohomish has been thrust into the spotlight after a viral TikTok video caused a surge of customers over the weekend.
Hundreds of people flocked to the stand, Grounds Coffee Co. on Broadway Avenue, eager to try its unique seasonal drinks, creating such a buzz that patrons report local police had to step in and direct traffic.
"It was crazy, the people showed up in droves," said Hailey Kuykendall, co-owner of the Grounds coffee stand. "We sold out of everything."
The spike in popularity is linked to a TikTok post by Ana Mannlein, a Monroe High School graduate who was visiting the area from Idaho. Mannlein captured her experience at the quirky coffee stand, which quickly gained traction on social media.
"I posted it, and I did not anticipate the reaction that I got," Mannlein said. "I’d be getting people saying, ‘I’m seeing this all the way from Ohio,’ and that blew my mind for the scale of reach."
The TikTok showed Mannlein and her family ordering one of Grounds' popular "spooky" seasonal drinks, complete with gummy worms, crushed Oreos and homemade whipped cream. Other offerings include drinks with names like the "Dracula’s Bride," "Eyeball Punch," and the "Hocus Pocus," featuring candy decorations like Pop Rocks and raspberry "bloody drizzle."
offerings include names like "Dracula’s Bride," "Eyeball Punch," and the "Hocus Pocus," featuring candy decorations like Pop Rocks and raspberry "bloody drizzle."
For Kuykendall, who has run the stand with her mom for nearly a decade, the sudden attention was overwhelming yet exciting.
"We’ve had this stand for eight years, and honestly, I used to just be the only employee," she said. "When you’re bored, creativity comes out of it."
The stand’s imaginative creations are the key to its success in a region teeming with roadside coffee huts.
"The Pacific Northwest is filled with so many of these little coffee stands, so you need something to be a little bit different," Kuykendall explained. "We decided to boycott boring beverages."
Over the weekend, customers waited in lines reminiscent of a ferry queue, some for hours, just to get a taste of the coffee stand’s concoctions. One of the popular picks was a chocolate, fudge, Oreo "dirt cup" on steroids, complete with a miniature tombstone and shovel.
The coffee stand’s imaginative Halloween-themed creations are the key to its success in a region teeming with roadside coffee huts.
"It was all hands on deck to barely meet the supply and demand," Kuykendall said. "People had been waiting for literal hours, so we couldn’t turn them away after they’d committed for that long."
Despite the chaos over the weekend, she and her team are looking forward to keeping the fun going through the season.
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