Starbucks “1st & Main” Debuts: Watch the First Episode and Meet the Cast
An extroverted bear who finds a creative outlet as a Starbucks store manager after years trapped in an office job. A beaver contractor who likes to fix problems and fancies himself the “mayor” of his favorite store. A hipster barista cat with a man bun and a compulsion to bring an artistic twist to everything he touches.
They’re Julie, Chet and Diego, respectively, and they’re part of the regular cast of “1st & Main,” the first-ever animated series from Starbucks, debuting December 16. The kick-off episode, “Baby Names,” follows two porcupines in a prickly situation as they try to name their future child, with a dose of inspiration from baristas calling out customers’ names written on Starbucks cups.
The lighthearted comic series was created by veteran comedy writers Joel H. Cohen, John Frink and Rob LaZebnik and Starbucks. The inspiration is real-life customers and baristas at a store in Los Angeles.
The animated shorts run 75-90 seconds each arrive weekly at starbucks.com/1standmain through January 20, with a special Valentine’s Day episode in February. The episodes are set in a Starbucks® store where customers and baristas interact in ways that will feel familiar to anyone who’s ever engaged in a bit of people watching.
Meet the Cast
Alexa
A slightly neurotic beagle who is always working on her first novel but never finishing it. Alexa loves having the community of Starbucks around her. It offsets the bleak, overwhelming weight of the blank page in front of her.
Diego
A hipster cat barista/artist with a man bun (cat bun?). Passionate about his art, he’s not only responsible for the Starbucks chalkboard, but is also creative in the way he drizzles caramel on a macchiato and even how he stacks toilet paper in the supply closet. But he’s still a cat, so sometimes he can’t help but bat around other employees’ apron strings.
Julie
The manager and matriarch of this store. She’s an extrovert who, after having been trapped in an office cubicle her whole career, now loves working with people. She’s as friendly as honey on toast and may have a small crush on Chet. Luckily, he has an even bigger crush on her.
Iggy
He’s an octopus and a newly-hired barista who is desperate to please. He tries to only use two of his arms to prove he can make it on a level playing field. But come on, when you’ve got eight, a sea creature’s got to multitask. He is limited by the need to keep everything below his “octo-waist” in a rolling mop bucket-style fish bowl.
Gord
He’s a trainer at the local gym and obsessed with his body sculpting. He asks for nonfat skinny lattes and Protein Bistro Boxes. If you want advice on how to work your quads, glutes, lats or traps, Gord is your hippo.
Chloe
A highly distractible teenage rabbit, Chloe’s trying to get acclimated to a new town and a new high school. Starbucks is the one familiar place she has, and she’s fine ducking in for a drink with her newfound high school friends, then maybe later coming back to put in some after school study time on her SAT.
Sasha
A gung-ho 20-something giraffe paramedic who'saving the world one chest compression at a time. She’s dedicated to helping all creatures great and small, but the small ones are harder to bend down to since she’s 20 feet tall. Starbucks is the place to stop when she’s on, off and in between duties. And it’s not that her head is in the clouds…she just doesn’t fit on screen.
Chet
He’s a hard-working beaver building contractor who always seems to be in the store and knows everyone. He considers himself the “mayor” of this location. Chet likes to get involved in everyone’s lives, fixing their problems using his common sense or anything else in his tool belt, be it claw hammer or sliding bevel.
