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Shop co-owner, baker and social media extraordinaire Travis Wilson, made the post last Wednesday and said he couldn\u2019t believe the number of people commenting on it.<\/p>\nAN Elmore-based bake shop has hit the world stage after going global on Facebook last week.<\/p>\n
The Elmore Bakery was flooded with over one million comments on their latest competition post, challenging people to correctly guess from a photo the number of pies on a trolley to win a baker\u2019s dozen for free.<\/p>\n
Shop co-owner, baker and social media extraordinaire Travis Wilson, made the post last Wednesday and said he couldn\u2019t believe the number of people commenting on it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat night when we posted I was so excited,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got up to about 700,000 [comments] and I was around at my folks\u2019 place, and I was just saying \u2018we\u2019re going to hit the million tonight\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to work at midnight that night and I stayed up most of the time just so we could hit that million.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got half an hour\u2019s sleep. I was too excited to sleep because it was just going up so fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost 21 million people have seen the post, which now has 1.3 million comments, 72,000 likes and 7,300 shares. Mr Wilson said the numbers are still growing rapidly, even after announcing a winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it could be 30 million, 40 million views the way things are going, it\u2019s just increasing so much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Following a fifth statewide lockdown to contain COVID-19 outbreaks, Mr Wilson said he hoped commenters would make the trip from far and wide to sample the pies featured in the post.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were actually really excited to try our pies where we\u2019re located, and we might have some people travelling around Victoria for that reason,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe we\u2019ll bring a lot more people out of this one,\u201d he said. \u201cElmore is not a huge area and I think we\u2019ll bring a few more people to try our pies.\u201d<\/p>\n
While no stranger to making a viral competition post on the bakery\u2019s Facebook page, Mr Wilson said he\u2019d never had one do this well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t gone as crazy as that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe get up to 50,000 people but not 21 million people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He chalked this one up to social media training and a little bit of luck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what it is, social media, and you can hit gold sometimes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always tried to push Facebook to get those followers and it is a bit of luck this time around, definitely, but I have had training through different social media agencies which really helped on working on how to maximise exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Wilson said spirits were high at both of The Elmore Bakery\u2019s locations since the social media success, with a smaller shop in East Bendigo.<\/p>\n
Rachael Fabbri has been working on-and-off at the shop\u2019s Elmore location since she was 15, but described the week following the post as a \u201cwhirlwind\u201d.<\/p>\n
She featured in the competition photo and has now become the accidental face of The Elmore Bakery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up in Elmore so a lot of people do know me and they\u2019ve commented on this viral post,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mr Wilson said the bakery are looking to expand their operation to meet growing demand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a third location and we\u2019ve just got that demand for it now,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are hungry for amazing pies, that\u2019s what we pride ourselves on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sell 40 trays of pies a day between the two locations and that is bumping up even higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are planning to do renovations this year to extend the bakery in Elmore just for more baking space so we\u2019re able to cope with a bigger demand.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AN Elmore-based bake shop has hit the world stage after going global on Facebook last week. The Elmore Bakery was flooded with over one million comments on their latest competition post, challenging people to correctly guess from a photo the number of pies on a trolley to win a baker\u2019s dozen for free. Shop co-owner, […]<\/p>\n