19-Year-Old Saves Her Family’s Candy Shop From Filing For Bankruptcy
Nov 30, 2021 by apost team
Having a family business can be a great joy, but when times are tough it can take a toll on everybody. David King and his daughter Annabelle from Sydney, Australia, had to learn how to adapt their business after losing the majority of their in-person clientele. Their genius solution was to post videos on TikTok, but neither the father or daughter realized just how well their plan would work.
With their tourist clients gone and public events canceled, the shop, which is called Sticky, had to find another way to sell their candy or their business was in danger of going under. David said they decided to try live streaming the candy-making process to bring in more customers that may be interested in the theatrical nature of making lollipops and other treats. Initially, only around 20 people showed up to Sticky’s live stream. When they reached 150 it felt like a huge success.
Then, Annabelle had the idea to stream and post videos on TikTok for foodies around the world to enjoy. After four months Sticky’s TikTok account had over two million followers and the store was inundated with international orders. Suddenly, the fear of going under became the drive to fulfill all of their new customers.
The shop, which has been open since 2001, still streams regularly and fans say they find the process of pulling sugar and making candy to be relaxing. The viewers are not shy about supporting Sticky and the company has grown substantially since they gained an online presence. The store, which just sells homemade rock candy, is set to turn over a million dollars in 2021. Keep reading to learn more about this brilliant business plan.
Before turning to TikTok, David and the Sticky employees started live streaming on Facebook and Youtube. They knew tourists always enjoyed watching the candy get made so this could work. “We kind of just thought we'd throw a Hail Mary pass and see if there was some way we could take the theatrical side of what we did and turn it into more of an online live streaming presence,” David said.
They eventually reached up to 100,000 views this way, but Annabelle knew there could be more. “I was like dad, you have to start a Tik Tok, what we do would work so well on Tik Tok,” Annabelle said. “I had to hassle him so much, I had to be like dad, dad, make it, make it, make it… he gave up one day and he let me do it.”
Now with over two million TikTok followers and even more views, the King’s have completely changed their marketing strategy. “I haven't had any experience with big social media and all of a sudden I'm big social media,” Annabelle explained. She added that the majority of her day is taken up with shooting videos for TikTok and the rest of her time is spent editing those videos.
David thinks it is the human element of the shop that draws people in. He said, “The feedback I get is that it's calming, people can watch us and engage, not just with the process and watch something that's kilos and kilos of molten sugar turned into something small and delicate, but they can engage with us as people.”
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What do you think of this major success for the candy shop? Do you enjoy watching people make candy? Let us know and feel free to forward this along to your friends and family.