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One is a sleek boutique catering to coffee connoisseurs and the latte set; the other is a blue-collar sub franchise whose official spokesperson is essentially a sentient garden gnome (I say this with love). They probably don’t sit together in the Food & Beverage cafeteria, which surely has a pretty decent spread. But when I dove into the data, I found some striking similarities between Blue Bottle Coffee and Jersey Mike’s. Dare I declare these brands unlikely soulmates?
If you don’t believe me, maybe you’ll believe this chart:
Blue Bottle Coffee and Jersey Mike's EMV, 2018 - 2023
Look at that—the same inflection points, the same trajectory. Blue Bottle Coffee is even done up in blue! If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.
As we can see, Blue Bottle Coffee closed 2023 slightly ahead of Jersey Mike’s. But if we shift the timeline a tad, and account for Q1 2024 by measuring April 2023 to March 2024, a new victor emerges:
Jersey Mike's and Blue Bottle Coffee April 2023 - March 2024
While Jersey Mike’s has pulled ahead by EMV and YoY EMV growth, those sandwiches haven’t cleared Blue Bottle Coffee in every category. It turns out that the BBC—no, not that one—boasts more Impressions and Engagements, as well as higher growth in these categories. Meanwhile, though Blue Bottle Coffee claims a larger community, and correspondingly more posts, than Jersey Mike’s, America’s favorite purveyor of cold cuts is seeing higher growth in these categories.
So what’s got Jersey Mike’s surging in terms of EMV and community? Why is Blue Bottle Coffee racking up digital engagements? And could it be possible that these two brands, so different in aesthetic and product and clientele, are employing different influencer marketing strategies to reach broadly similar numbers?
By an astonishing coincidence, those are the exact questions that I intend to answer.
Jersey Mike's: TikTok's Favorite Sandwiches
Listen, Danny DeVito is a surefire way to spark some buzz, but the diminutive New Jerseyan’s tireless love of sandwiches bigger than he is wasn’t a huge factor for Jersey Mike’s digital presence over the past year. Mentions of the actor powered just $205.7k EMV, confirming that Danny might be New Jersey’s second-favorite DeVito.
Instead, Jersey Mike’s momentum stemmed from the same source that a lot of brands’ momentum is stemming from: a little app that sounds like a clock and secretly runs the world. That’s right—for whatever reason, the Youth of TikTok decided that Jersey Mike’s is the perfect place to dance around or film themselves eating sandwiches in a parking lot. And you know what? I was skeptical, but the kids might be right about this one.
Plus Nick Jonas debuted his personalized sandwich on TikTok, so come on, you know that’s going to make a splash.
(You ever write a sentence that makes you question your English degree?)
Of the $15.4M EMV that Jersey Mike’s pulled in from April 2023 to March 2024, a little less than half—$7.0M EMV, to be precise—came from TikTok. Not only was this total greater than Jersey Mike’s’ Instagram haul ($6.2M EMV), a rarity for brands across multiple verticals, it also represented an incredible 473% YoY surge.
What’s more, this TikTok content creation was fairly consistent throughout those 12 months. While EMV was sometimes concentrated around certain time periods—like August, when lifestyle creators like How Kev Eats and Finding Fiona shared their go-to Jersey Mike’s orders—the brand successfully established a productive baseline for TikTok content:
Jersey Mike's TikTok EMV from April 2023 - March 2024
One thing is clear: Jersey Mike’s isn’t a food for the Holiday Season, though people do seem to love its turkey.
Ultimately, TikTok is helping to bring a new audience to Jersey Mike’s, leading to a dramatic and generative overhaul of the brand’s creator community. Remember that $15.4M EMV total? Well, $11.5M EMV of it—a cool 75%—came from creators who hadn’t mentioned Jersey Mike’s during the preceding year.
The brand is clearly building something big, and doing a great job of it. So Mike, if you’re listening, please remember that I said nice things about you, and send a local newsletterman a sandwich.
Blue Bottle Coffee: Celebrities’ Favorite Espresso
When I first started investigating where Blue Bottle Coffee’s EMV came from, I was curious who this Abel Tesfaye fellow was. After all, he drove $4.8M of the brand’s $14.0M EMV total—over $4.0M EMV more than anyone else. Whoever he is, this is a dude who loves his coffee.
Then Google did me a solid, and it all clicked into place.
You see, Abel Tesfaye is better known as The Weeknd. Or, if you frequent your local Blue Bottle Coffee location, he’s even better known as the guy behind the Samra Origins blend—named after Tesfaye’s mother, and celebrating his Ethiopian heritage.
Samra Origins dropped in May 2023, catapulting the brand to new heights. Over the past 12 months, Blue Bottle Coffee’s EMV has resembled a mountain range, with celebrities largely responsible for each peak:
Blue Bottle Coffee EMV from April 2023 - March 2024
May was all about Samra. The Weeknd authored Blue Bottle Coffee’s top 19 EMV-generating posts, cementing his status as the Rick Ross of coffee. In August, The Weeknd returned, teasing early access to Samra craft instant coffee and merch, and authoring the brand’s top 17 EMV-generating posts.
But November was a combo-breaker month! In honor of Black Friday, TikTok Shop was all the rage, with the brand’s manifold initiatives united under that banner. The Weeknd was back touting Samra, but Blue Bottle Coffee also saw posts from artist Devon Rodriguez, who collaborated with Blue Bottle Home Blends on the Human-Generated Art Experiment, an initiative showcasing handcrafted art in paintings and pour overs alike.
While Blue Bottle Coffee wasn’t quite as keen on TikTok as Jersey Mike’s, the brand did see a boost on the platform during its busy November, when creators took to the platform to tout TikTok Shop initiatives for a range of Blue Bottle Coffee products. As a result, TikTok was responsible for the brand’s top six posts by EMV in November.
Conclusion: Two Great Tastes to Pair With Creator Marketing
On the surface, Jersey Mike’s and Blue Bottle Coffee might seem to have little in common. But dig a little deeper, and you find that they’re closely aligned in an area where they have plenty of peers: the importance of creator marketing. No matter your indulgence of choice—sandwich or coffee, Danny DeVito or The Weeknd—your favorite Food & Beverage brand is leveraging creators to expand their audience and secure digital engagement.
And if they aren’t, well, then they really should be.
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