From burnt brownies to a food empire: How one Aussie creator turned a kitchen fail into a career
Nick Vavitis never thought the first brownies he baked in his kitchen during a career lull would turn into a food empire, especially after he burned 15 batches of them.
"I'd been reviewing food for the last 10 years or so on Instagram and it grew to like 100K [followers]," Vavitis told nine.com.au.
"And then in lockdown, I lost my job because of COVID. So I just packed myself up and moved to Brisbane and was like, 'I'll work it out up there, I just need to get away from Melbourne'.
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Nick Vavitis' food empire began with 15 batches of burnt brownies. Nick Vavitis/Supplied
"Nothing was going right. I couldn't find a job, I kept getting knocked back, and so to alleviate the stress I started baking."
He chose to make brownies because they seemed "easy enough", but they turned out to be a little more complicated than he anticipated.
"Honestly, I couldn't bake at all. I started myself off with a base recipe and then it was just trial and error."
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"I couldn't find a job, I kept getting knocked back, and so to alleviate the stress I started baking." Nick Vavitis/Supplied
Vavitis eventually hit on a winning recipe and his friends urged him to start selling them.
He couldn't explain it at the time, but he felt driven to do this.
"It's one of the hardest things. It becomes so lonely. People look at you like, 'What are you doing?' You're basically putting your life savings on a brownie."
But his self-belief couldn't be dampened.
Vavitis started selling the brownies at a friend's donut shop in Queensland. It took just one Story on his popular Instagram account for an hour-and-a-half queue to form outside the door.
His company CHOCLT was born and the first product, a Blondie Brownie With Biscoff Spread, took off, selling in Woolworths supermarkets nationwide.
"We do a load of brownies, cheesecakes, and desserts," he said.
Vavitis knew nothing about running a business, but was a quick learner.
"Sometimes you just need to throw yourself in a deep end and just reverse-engineer and work it out," he said.
"People look at you like, 'What are you doing?' You're basically putting your life savings on a brownie." Nick Vavitis/Supplied
It was then that Muscle Nation came calling, after Vavitis approached them at a gym expo in 2018.
Their first collaboration was a Muscle Nation x CHOCLT Caramel Cheesecake Bar, which became the number-one selling protein bar in Coles for nearly three months.
"That was meant to launch online only. It was meant to be an online collaboration for the Muscle Nation website," Vavitis says.
"And then the team that we work with at Ranged, who look after my grocery stuff ... ended up getting it into Coles, which was massive."
Muscle Nation came calling after Vavitis approached them at a food expo in Queensland in 2018. Nick Vavitis/Supplied
From there, the brand took off.
"We were number one protein bar for nearly close to three months, which was crazy."
The bar is now also sold in petrol stations, and pharmacies.
"We've just launched our Muscle Nation x CHOCLT Caramel Biscuit Cheesecake Slice in addition to our Blondie. We also have White Choc Caramel Peanut Butter cups. There is something for everyone."
The collaboration was only meant to be an online launch, but ended up on supermarket shelves. Nick Vavitis/Supplied
CHOCLT's blondie was one of the products that helped catapult the brand. Nick Vavitis/Supplied
And in exciting news, Vavitis' cheesecake slices and caramel blondies will be exclusive to Coles from 2026.
His cheesecake bars are available at all major retailers.
And his next product launch, which will tap into the lucrative yoghurt aisle, launches exclusively at Woolworths in two weeks, his latest collaboration with Muscle Nation.
"We're launching Muscle Nation x CHOCLT Caramel Cheesecake Yoghurt which contains 15g of protein per pouch."
Another item from the protein range. Nick Vavitis/Supplied
"For me, it's about creating an emotional journey through food," Vavitis says. Nick Vavitis/Supplied
Today, Vavitis' career is a perfect balance of creating new products for CHOCLT as well as food blogging. Some of his recent reviews include trialing Aldi's Easter egg range and new Lindt Ball flavours.
"For me, it's about creating an emotional journey through food, even if you are health-conscious and you like that dessert experience," he said.
"I think we've captured that in our range."
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