Overnight fame for Kiwi hot chocolate company after Instagram post
A West Auckland coffee business has had its stock wiped out for the first time in its 18 year history after one unexpected Instagram influencer post.
Sydney mother Kristin Fisher, who runs an eyebrow sculpting business shared a picture of Avalanche Coffee's sugar-free hot chocolate with her 31,800 followers two weeks ago and almost immediately increased the company's sales 10-fold.
Avalanche Coffee owners Paul Tobin and Stefan Marusich had no idea who Fisher was until Wednesday morning, when they woke up to an email from a public relations company about international news coverage of their $5 sugar-free hot chocolate selling out in from Australian supermarkets.
Avalanche Coffee owners Paul Tobin and Stefan Marusich say they will be working with Kristen Fisher to return the favour, after she increased their sales 10-fold.
Tobin said Avalanche had never worked with influencers before, and this experience had caught them by surprise.
"It just goes to show the power of social media. It will definitely be a bigger part of our marketing in the future," Tobin said.
"Coles and Woolworth have 2000 stores and pretty much all of those shelves were empty overnight.They're now onto us for more stock. It's been crazy," Tobin said.
Avalanche has been air freighting stock every day since the post to meet demand in Woolworths and Coles supermarkets.
The success of the recommendation has also caught Fisher by surprise who has since edited her Instagram bio calling herself "Australia's number one hot chocolate influencer!".
In her post which featured an image of the 99 per cent sugar free drinking chocolate Fisher says; "I feel like I owe this to my people. This needs to be on my feed. We need to know what is going on with @avalanchecoffee…"
The post said she could not find the product on supermarket shelves which sent her followers on a frenzy to hunt down the product for themselves.
Marusich said the business had been under the radar for most of its 18 years and this Instagram post was what it needed.
"The first 12 years we were just growing the business. It's only the last three or four years we've been doing quite well and now it's exploding."
Avalanche, which employs 50 staff based in Kelston, has also started exporting to Britain, the United States and China.
The company roasts its coffee beans, sourced from Africa, South America and Indonesia, in West Auckland.