A café in Massachusetts has a unique promotion to get people in the door: dance and get a free coffee.
Coffee Milano Café is located in Middleborough, which has a population of approximately 24,000. But the store’s most recent TikTok reaches far beyond the city limits, racking up nearly 7 million views as of Thursday afternoon.
The video showed more than a dozen excited customers pushing their way through the door to get their free cup of coffee.
One woman did a very convincing moonwalk, while a mother danced with her toddler.
Owner Josh Rashid spoke to CNN and said attendance increased after the video was posted.
“We’re a small town here in Middleborough, and it’s nice. A few people were in the store when it happened, and they came in the next day and said, “Oh my God, I saw your video on my For You page,” he said.
Rashid was inspired to do this by a pizzeria that had a similar promotion.
He put a sign on the door saying customers would get a free coffee if they danced for five seconds. The sign also stated that they would be recorded and posted on the cafe’s social media.
More than a dozen excited customers push their way through the door of Coffee Milano Café to get their free cup of coffee
Rashid said the cafe’s TikTok account has gained more than 10,000 followers since the video was posted, up from around 4,000 followers.
“Small businesses really need to be on these platforms where potential customers are searching,” Kristyn Shay told CNN.
Shay, director of social media at SCORE, a nonprofit that provides resources for small business owners, added that “it’s a really exciting time for small businesses to go viral on platforms like TikTok and be where younger potential customers hanging around.”
Rashid said his staff only started making short, fun videos on TikTok about four weeks ago, after he decided it was time to change their marketing strategy.
“We are in a digital world and word of mouth is great, but at the same time we are glued to our phones,” he said.
“It shows us how powerful social media is, and as business owners we have to adapt and do what we can.”
The cafe plans to bring back the dance promotion, but there’s a catch
The videos are often short skits using popular TikTok sounds, and so far they’ve received rave reviews in the comments.
That includes the dance video, which was so positively received that Rashid plans to bring the deal back every month.
The catch is that he won’t post an announcement or an official day for customers to dance for free coffee.
To make it even more fun, he will be leaving ‘Easter eggs’ on the café’s social media profiles.
Rashid added that he is not worried about losing money from the promotion.
“You need to have some joy in this world, and if a five-second dance brings you joy, then it’s worth the free coffee,” he said.