Celeb Pâtissier Cooks Social Media Spite Into Marketing Gem

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John Bastick
By John Bastick



TV chef and baker Adriano Zumbo has turned the tables on disgruntled customers who’d turned on his famed macarons, using their social media vitriol to daub his latest Melbourne outlet.

During the construction of yet another Zumbo outlet in December, this time in Melbourne’s CBD, the hoardings proudly carried some of the best attacks on both the man himself and his high-end sugary treats.

Zumbo, of course, found TV fame on Masterchef and has since managed to transform that ‘five minutes’ into a string of stores, a eponymous cookbook, cake mix range, and even his very own range of Tim Tams.

The ‘reviews’ were gleaned from social media sites such as Urbanspoon and Facebook, while, to Zumbo’s credit and sense of humour, he had the good grace not to ‘out’ the author.

“I honestly hate your macarons and all that other rubbish stuff you create. By the way get some hair while you’re at it,” was just some of the advice beaming out from the new Melbourne store.

“Considering how he prances around like he invented all this stuff, it was a little underwhelming,” was another of the nasty jibes.

A spokesperson for Zumbo told B&T that the stunt was designed to start a conversation around the store opening. However, he conceded not everybody got the joke.

“We were approached by so many people querying the hoarding,” he said. “Some people couldn’t understand why we would do it, even after I explained my rationale behind the concept they just couldn’t get it!” Before adding that “a lot of people absolutely loved it”.

Sadly, the hoardings weren’t to be a permanent fixture and were removed once the new store was complete.




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