Starbucks is moving into a new lane as the coffee giant prepares to pay select baristas for employee created content through a custom TikTok Creator Network. According to TikTok’s Newsroom, Starbucks will become the first brand to launch a custom Creator Network inside TikTok’s Content Suite later this summer, building on the company’s existing Green Apron Creators program.
The pilot will allow Starbucks to send creative briefs to participating employees while giving select creators a chance to share in ad revenue when their content is used. Custom Creator Networks are designed to help advertisers build curated groups of creators, employees, partners, or advocates who can receive campaign direction or have existing brand-related videos turned into ads.
“Every day, our partners bring Starbucks to life by creating moments of connection with our customers and with each other. And more than ever, they are sharing those moments with the world online in authentic, creative and unique ways,” Erin Silvoy, Starbucks’ senior vice president of global marketing, said in a statement to Marketing Dive. “Collaborating with TikTok provided us with the opportunity to build a customized tool that allows us to celebrate and amplify our partners’ authentic storytelling.”
The Starbucks TikTok rollout is part marketing strategy, part workplace creator economy experiment. According to Starbucks, its Green Apron Creators program was created to elevate employee voices and spotlight baristas who already share coffee stories, store moments, and customer connections online. The program also reflects the company’s interest in giving employees a way to build storytelling skills and grow their online presence.
The timing makes sense for Starbucks, especially as younger consumers increasingly discover brands through real people instead of polished campaigns. According to Sprout Social’s 2026 State of Social Media, 40 percent of consumers say they frequently discover products or services through employee-generated content. That number rises to 61 percent among Gen Z. Additionally, 61 percent of consumers also believe employees should be compensated when they promote their employers on social media.
That compensation question is central to why the Starbucks TikTok pilot is getting attention. Starbucks will let select employees create TikTok content and share in ad revenue through the pilot launching later this summer. Starbucks employees already post about the company at three times the rate of employees at comparable restaurant chains, giving the brand a large base of organic employee content that can now be organized more formally.
“As we continue to innovate in the employee creator space, we see this pilot as an opportunity to learn, test, and evolve what comes next,” Silvoy said.
Starbucks is not the only company trying to turn employees into trusted brand voices. Portillo’s launched an internal influencer program called Maxwell Street Mavens, selecting 15 employees to create content tied to the restaurant chain’s culture and expansion into new markets. Portillo’s leaders said employees were better positioned to tell the brand’s story in a way that felt natural to audiences.
First Watch has also tested employee creator incentives. According to First Watch’s Team Member Content Creator program page, eligible hourly employees who submitted approved First Watch-themed videos could receive $250, minus taxes and withholdings, if their content was selected for reposting. The program also warned employees not to film during working hours and not to share recipes, financial information, equipment, or other protected company material.
Retail brands are paying attention too. Staples made viral employee creator Kaeden Rowland, known online as “Staples Baddie,” an official partner after her TikTok videos about the retailer’s print and custom services gained major traction. Rowland built a following by posting authentic content about lesser-known Staples services, including personalized stamps, art prints, and direct mail offerings.
The Starbucks TikTok pilot also follows a broader shift across media and tech. Companies including The Wall Street Journal, Notion, and Milwaukee Public Library have leaned into employee influencer strategies to make brand content feel more human and useful. Employee creators can give audiences context, personality, and trust that brand accounts often struggle to deliver on their own.
For Starbucks, the strategy could help the company reach consumers who already treat TikTok like a search engine for food, drinks, trends, and workplace culture. Custom Creator Networks are intended to help brands identify trusted voices and scale creator content while maintaining more control over collaboration. In plain terms, Starbucks can tap into the baristas who already know the brand’s day-to-day rhythm while TikTok gives the company a formal system to manage that content.
Still, the program will likely raise questions about boundaries, disclosure, and how much creative freedom employees actually have. According to the Federal Trade Commission, endorsements must clearly disclose paid relationships when those relationships could affect how viewers evaluate the message. That means employee creator content connected to Starbucks campaigns will need to be transparent if workers are being compensated or if their posts are being used for ads.
The broader labor backdrop also matters. Starbucks announced 2026 updates for U.S. store employees, including weekly pay, expanded tips, and a bonus structure worth up to $1,200 per year for eligible baristas and shift supervisors who meet certain goals. The company has also faced ongoing scrutiny over labor relations, union negotiations, and workplace-related disputes.
That makes the Starbucks TikTok pilot more layered than a simple brand campaign. If the program is handled well, it could give baristas a real lane into paid content creation while helping Starbucks sound more connected to the culture it profits from. If it feels too controlled or underpaid, audiences will likely notice.
For now, Starbucks is betting that the people already making coffee, talking to customers, and creating viral moments can also become some of the brand’s most valuable storytellers.
