What originally started off as a lockdown hobby, ended up marking the beginning of the most unimaginable business journey.
After 29-year-old Greek Australian Nick Vavitis lost his job during lockdown in Brisbane he threw himself into the art of baking desserts, trying to keep himself occupied, through his passion for sweet foods.
“I had no work during Covid so I needed to pay the bills. I couldn’t find any work, so in the meantime I began baking while I was looking for a job,” Nick Vavitis said to Neos Kosmos.
However, what first appeared like a dark and unfortunate situation, turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Nick.
The food blogger from Melbourne, admits he has “always loved desserts,” a passion that grew even bigger through his food reviewing on his Instagram page.
“I’ve always loved trying other desserts and then one day I thought to myself what if I made my own desserts that include my favourite flavours.”
This mindset fuelled an idea that was bound to change his life.
“I handed out my desserts I baked, and my friends said I need to sell it asap,” added Nick.
His friends saw the potential and planted a seed that grew into what would later land him an unimaginable supermarket deal.
His sweet creations attracted the attention of Woolworths bakery manager Chris, who together with Dave from Buonissimo approached Nick and asked if he’d be interested in releasing CHOCLT into Woolworths.
According to the Greek Australian foodie, this deal turned out to be “more successful” than what he could have ever imagined.
“We broke the record of sales in the bakery section of Woolworths, I’m super grateful.”
Nick initially started selling his goodies in Brisbane and continued to grow his business after moving back to his hometown Melbourne.
His desire to “sweeten” people’s mouths and hearts manifested in mixing flavours of caramel, biscuit, cheesecake, red velvet flavours, and admits he has also made some Greek inspired flavour desserts.
“My favourite desserts are my cookie pie and my brownies, they are my signature desserts because they are unique to me and the love, I have put into them shows through the flavours,” he explains.
He says people have responded quite enthusiastically after trying his desserts.
“They love the flavour profiles and they said it’s been the best dessert they have tried. It warms my heart to hear that as I put so much effort into delivering a good product!”
Nick’s story is a true testament of how what seems like an unlucky situation can sometimes generate the luckiest results, and even though failure can easily lead to a dark place, in some cases it creates the perfect conditions for opportunity to rise.
As for the future, Nick plans to focus on growing his business in Woolworths as well as “bring out more flavours for people to try,” determined to explore further flavours and tastes that will excite people’s palates.
