Auckland hot chocolate sold out in Aussie supermarket ‘frenzy’

An unexpected appearance on a Sydney mum’s social media feed has produced a significant sales boost for a West Auckland beverage exporter.

Kristin Fisher, who runs a successful eyebrow sculpting business and has 31,000 Instagram followers posted her endorsement of the product.

In her post which featured an image of the 99% 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…”

Paul Tobin and Stefan Marusich own Avalanche Coffee.
Paul Tobin and Stefan Marusich own Avalanche Coffee.

The post went on to add that she could not find the product on supermarket shelves which sent her followers on a frenzy to hunt down the product for themselves.

Paul Tobin and Stefan Marusich who own Avalanche Coffee said they had no prior connection with Fisher and were completely surprised to see the product selling out overnight on supermarket shelves around Australia .

“We understand one of the supermarket customers has taken a particular liking to our sugar free drinking chocolate and innocently posted her endorsement to her followers.

“The next day we started getting a wave of new orders from dozens of Woolworths and Coles supermarkets wanting to replenish their stocks.

“We are told customers have been going in and buying up any stock that is left then posting this to their own pages which is contributing to the demand.

“The viral success of the post has been picked up by Australian news media which is adding to the shortages,” says Tobin.

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!’.

Fisher’s full post 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 and why are they on SALE (why. WHY). I’m starting to get very concerned that something sinister has happened. (I’m looking at you Jarrah). So if anyone has any information on the whereabouts of my beloved avalanche hot choc sachets, please comment on this post so we can all get some sleep tonight. #whereforartthou #mybeloved #jealousyisacursejarrah” 

Tobin says they are working overtime to keep up with the Australian demand and have been sending air freight shipments every day since the post went live.

He says while trans-Tasman supplies have been depleted, the product is currently still available in New Zealand.