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Gold Coast-based protein snack and powder company Macro Mike has "punched out" record November sales while stock movement in December to date has tripled year-on-year, and the moment could not be sweeter for founder Mike Kellett.
One might say he's having a Golden Gaytime, just like the iconic ice cream brand that partnered with the company on a co-branded protein powder range in mid-October.
The UK-born founder, who until just a few years ago was running the company on a student visa before recently securing Australian citizenship, set up Macro Mike as an answer to his own need for flavourful, healthy gluten-free protein bars.
The original product and further range releases resonated with consumers with the brand growing a sizeable retail presence in Australia and New Zealand, although 60-70 per cent of sales are still through Macro Mike's own e-commerce operations run out of a Burleigh Heads factory.
Kellett moved operations into the upsized manufacturing facility in January 2023 but for a long time, it felt like Macro Mike was "wearing this really big shell" that the company needed to grow into.
"I feel like the foundations were laid two years ago. We knew where we wanted to get to, but the constant struggle and reason we couldn't just put the peddle to the metal has been because we didn't have the capacity," says Kellett, who recently won the 2024 Australian Young Entrepreneur Award - Food & Beverage.
"We just kept either selling out or we didn't have enough output.
"For the previous Black Friday sale in 2023 we were two or three weeks behind with packing orders because we just didn't have the staff, and so we’ve probably doubled the team on the site from the last two years - we’ve taken on an operations manager, and we’ve empowered the team to step up."
This November the company peaked at more than 50 staff during Black Friday.
"For e-commerce alone, in a normal month, we typically ship out about 5,000 orders and in a really busy month 7,500. We did 15,000 orders in November, of which 7,500 were in a 72-hour period," Kellett tells Business News Australia.
"It was a busy month. We're trying to get back up to having stock levels, so production has just been pumping pretty much 14 hours a day."
Online sales were already tracking higher in the months leading up to the sales event - 60 per cent higher year-on-year in July, up 80 per cent over August and September, and then double in October.
"In terms of profitability, we were almost 10x profit in this October versus last October," he says.
"The Black Friday sale was kind of the icing on the cake. And we just launched our Christmas range, and that's been pumping as well."
Aside from the steady capacity and brand building that Macro Mike has been engaged in for a long time, Kellett also attributes the recent "ground-breaking" Golden Gaytime collaboration as both a key driver of success and a strong validation.
"We knew it was going to go well, but to give you context, we did our production run of what we thought would be a month's worth of stock for the initial launch," he says.
"Within three days, we’d already sold out the whole month’s worth of stock we’d produced, and then we had to make another three months' worth of stock. We ran back-to-back batches.
"Literally, we can't even make enough of it, because we've got to keep all our other products in stock as well."
The demand surge happened quickly, but the product itself had been four years in the making since Kellett first pitched the idea to broker Assemble Brands, which licenses brands for the likes of Unilever and its subsidiary Streets, which owns Golden Gaytime, in certain categories.
"Macro Mike wasn’t as big as we are now so they were a bit wary of whether it will go well, and there wasn’t a huge appetite from Golden Gaytime, Streets, or Unilever in the protein space," he says.
"I think the biggest shift was probably two years ago when protein became real trendy and everybody started having protein. It wasn't just gym junkies; it was women and kids and everyone just knew that protein was just essential for everyone.
"We went through probably a six-month contract phase, a 12-month R&D NPD (new product development) phase – the actual Golden Gaytime protein itself, the one that’s on the shelf now, went through something like 23 revisions of flavour and formulation just to get it approved by us and Unilever. It was a really big process to get it over the line."
The entrepreneur says he knew the collaboration would go well as a "bit of a homerun", but just how well would depend on the market response.
"It was a really nice moment for me where all of this hard work had paid off," he says.
"I knew this was going to be massive for the brand Macro Mike. There are so many protein brands out there - it’s one thing being a big protein brand and we’ve got 25,000 five-star reviews and our products taste amazing, but when you slap your name next to Golden Gaytime you just get that instant trust and validation."
He clarifies that for around 90 per cent of the Black Friday sale, the product actually wasn't in stock because he wanted to maintain it as a premium product. Some inventory was withheld but is now "back in stock and it's been flying again".
"This collaboration is a dream come true," says the founder.
"Golden Gaytime is synonymous with Aussie culture, and we’re thrilled to bring that iconic flavour to our health-conscious customers in a way that aligns with our brand values - gluten-free, dairy-free, and packed with nutritional benefits."
Unilever ANZ’s ice cream general manager, Scott Mingl, echoes Kellett's enthusiasm.
"We are super excited about this collaboration as it brings together the nostalgic taste of Golden Gaytime with the added nutritional benefits of protein. It’s a delicious and wholesome choice," Mingl says.
Kellett adds that the beauty of Macro Mike having its own e-commerce and manufacturing operation is that it can dynamically release new products throughout the year in a way that would take longer with large retail partners.
But bricks-and-mortar retail sales are still very important to him with Macro Mike's products sold in the likes of Coles, Woolworths and numerous other stores via direct deals and wholesaler relationships.
He also teases that another major nationwide retail deal could be on the horizon, while advanced negotiations are at play with another large fast-moving consumer-facing (FMCG) company for a co-branded product launch like the Golden Gaytime deal within the next 12 months.
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