Social media influencer’s choc wipeout

A West Auckland coffee business has had its stock wiped out for the first time in its 18-year history after one unexpected post by an Instagram influencer.

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 tenfold.

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 Australian supermarkets.

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 Woolworths 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.’’

Avalanche has been air freighting stock every day since the post to meet demand in Woolworths and Coles supermarkets.

The success of the recommendation also caught Fisher by surprise. She has since edited her Instagram bio entry to call 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 said: ‘‘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 into a frenzy as they hunted 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.