Scaling up versus quality: a chocolate bar goes viral

There was only an idea, and the one chocolate bar made for the video. But, says Klein, “People called saying they wanted to buy the bar in the online store, so we started producing and selling it. Without product testing, stock, or packaging. We simply used the existing packaging we had for other chocolate products. Suddenly there were tens of thousands of visitors to our online shop and the orders poured in. We could only meet this high demand because I asked for help. I asked former employees and social media followers whether they wanted to work for us. And on LinkedIn, I put out a call for a pistachio supplier. Both calls for help were successful.”

Scaling up and staying sustainable

De Bonte Koe’s mission is ‘Making the tastiest most sustainable, handmade chocolate in the Netherlands’. It is, says Klein, “a balancing act between rock-solid operational scaling up to meet demand and making the best choices in terms of sustainability. Our goal is to maintain quality while sticking to our values of doing business as sustainably as possible.”  The company was recently awarded B Corp certification for its positive contribution to people and the environment.

Klein keeps a close eye on ingredients and suppliers. “Our staff and machinery are at maximum capacity. That is why we stopped doing tour, personalised products, and resales. We now focus all our attention on sales through our own channels and have even turned down resales of the viral bar at major retailers.”

Extra staff

The family-run company was launched in 1992 and has a permanent team. Since the hype, the company is also hiring staff through the temporary staffing platform Temper. The TikTok trend is driving sales of the Pistachio Künefe bar, but sales of Bonte Koe's standard range have also increased by 30%. Klein says: “Normally the summer period is quiet and we are more likely to have stress due to low sales and cash flow. Of course, this busy period affects staff and there was chaos at first. We now have twice as many staff as before the hype took off. We are transparent about sales figures and where we want to grow as a company. We also regularly ask employees how they perceive their workload and whether adjustments in schedules are needed. This keeps current, as well as new, staff happy with the working atmosphere.”

Growing pains

The rapid growth did cause some problems in certain areas. “We had to make choices so that the quality remained high and the customer happy,” says Klein. She talked a lot with other entrepreneurs and sought advice in an entrepreneurial network. “I find that entrepreneurs like to help each other. You have to be open and share what you are really up against. So not just the nice figures, but also share that turnover is lower or that you can't find a supplier. For instance, an entrepreneur gave me the tip to place a ‘keep me posted’ button on the page of the Pistachio Künefe bar. We have since collected around 80,000 email addresses that we notify when the bar is available again.”
 

Learning moments

Over the past few months, De Bonte Koe experienced tremendous growth. Klein learnt a lot from this period. She shares her learnings:

• We also pay attention to our regular range and don't just focus on the Pistachio Künefe bar. This is how we profile ourselves as a chocolate shop with a wide range and show that we are more than just a trend.
• We think it is important that the customer who visits our shop can also buy the bar. That's why I always calculate what the maximum sales for our online shop are per day.
• We continuously check whether the hype around the Pistachio Künefe bar is still there. Currently, the bar is sold out within 2 minutes every day, and that’s without any marketing. As a result, I dare to buy the ingredients in bulk.
• We moved our storage warehouse and closed our tearoom in Schiedam. This gives us maximum space for production and processing the online orders.
• To maintain production of our entire range, I hire an external chocolatier. He makes simple products from our range that I am sure will deliver the same quality.