Amy Klein, owner of De Bonte Koe along with her brother Connor, told all about this process in an interesting keynote speech laced with humor and anecdotes, which also did not shy away from the lesser sides of "going viral. In short: a valuable entrepreneurial lesson that went far beyond the food sector.
From family business to brand with mission
"If you had told me thirty years ago that I would take over this family business and go viral, I probably would have dropped this Easter egg," Amy begins her story, referring to a photo from her childhood showing her biting into a large chocolate Easter egg. De Bonte Koe - founded in 1991 by her mother and uncle - is an artisan chocolate company with roots in Schiedam and Rotterdam. The company is now run by Amy and her brother Connor, who have initiated a major transformation since taking over in 2020.
That transformation had multiple tracks. First came a strong focus on sustainability. "We started looking at how we could be as sustainable as possible in the cocoa chain," Amy says. For example, De Bonte Koe now buys organic cocoa through a cooperative in the Dominican Republic, and packaging was modified to be more sustainable. These steps led to a B Corp certification for De Bonte Koe.
But sustainability alone was not enough: the brand also needed to appeal to a new audience. The existing customer base was loyal, but older and mainly regional. The goal? Appealing to a younger audience, more national exposure and less dependence on seasonal peaks such as Easter and Christmas. And how do you do that? Right, by using social media.
"We literally discussed with the team: how do we go viral?"
- Amy Klein
The goal: go viral
With a product that is creamy and delicious and looks good on camera, TikTok was identified as a promising channel, and going viral was set as a goal. "We literally discussed with the team: how do we go viral?" says Amy. "The first viral hit was the 'chocoisssant' during the 'crompouce hype.' That video reached 2.5 million views, but yielded little: the product was difficult to ship and didn't actually fit our brand. "We had gone viral, but had no business use for it."
A number of experiments followed, Amy lists: "From libido chocolates, to edible art and chocolate from vending machines - all creative, but still not the viral hit we were hoping for. Until someone on the team said, 'We need to look to the Middle East.' An inspiration trip to Istanbul followed, where the team fell in love with kunefe - a warm dessert made of pistachio and kadayif dough.
The birth of the 'Dubai Reep'
Back in the Netherlands, things moved quickly. Connor experimented with chocolate versions of the kunefe, Amal (business developer) worked on the concept, and her 16-year-old sister filmed the TikTok. The bar was presented in simple white baking paper with a sticker. Amy still had doubts: "We had no ingredients, no packaging, no price." Nevertheless, the bar went live that day. Within days, the number of orders rose from 20 to 400 a day.â
After two weeks, the real explosion came: influencer Monica Geuze spontaneously shared a video in which she tasted the bar (without mentioning the brand name), and the public recognized the product. "The community started promoting us. Everyone shouted: that's De Bonte Koe's bar!"
What followed was an absolute storm. Media picked it up (RTL, NOS Stories, Telegraaf), the public kept ordering and videos shot up like mushrooms. "The packaging turned out to be perfect for ASMR, the crunch, the running out - everything worked: a fluke."
Help, we're going viral!
What began as a dream and realization of the goal -going viral - soon brought quite a few headaches, Amy candidly explains. "Orders were running up to 20,000 bars, pistachios were running out, the team was working overtime. I called my brother and said, I can't take it anymore." Negative reviews were coming in, loyal customers in the store were no longer getting attention, and the whole business began to crack under the pressure. "In short, in no time we went from 'Yes, we're going viral,' to 'Help, we're going viral.'"
Amy pauses for a moment and then continues her story, "We realized: this is not going to go on like this." The decision: quit at the peak. "We wanted to take direction ourselves again, sell that candy bar on our terms."
And those conditions were drawn up clearly and sharply: max 1500 bars per day, only through own stores and no more webshop, maximum four bars per customer. And no sales through third parties - only Schiphol and Uniqlo were eventually selected. Ironically, the scarcity created even more buzz. Queues in front of the stores, videos of fans waiting, and even the bag became a collector's item. Amy: "If you set a maximum of four bars per customer, people will all buy four. Only to find some of them on Marketplace for twenty euros each."
"We made big investments on a hype. But for that to succeed, we have to keep innovating."
- Amy Klein
From hype to strategy
The thing about hypes is that they often disappear as quickly as they came. For Amy and her team, the task was to ensure that the attention gained was also retained, but this time on its own terms and without compromising on quality. As of October 2024, the webshop went live again, but with limited drops à la Supreme: a limited number of bars daily, ensuring constant traction. The team was also expanded from 30 to 70 people, a warehouse rented, and packaging improved with luxury gift boxes.
Amy: "We made big investments on a hype. But for that to succeed, we have to keep innovating." De Bonte Koe launched a new bar in December, which went viral again. The result: in one year, sales increased from 2.5 to 6 million euros. And they sold more than 220,000 "pistachio kunefe" bars - affectionately called the Dubai Bar by customers.
Top slot
Amy ended with a mix of pride, surprise and a touch of sobriety. "In early January, my brother and I are walking on the beach. We're looking at the numbers. And we say: this will probably only last a week." Laughter in the room. Everyone knows: that one week has since turned out to be a gold mine - thanks to guts, creativity, and above all, daring to stop at the peak, to grow better.
Amy Klein is Chocolate Executive at family business De Bonte Koe Chocolade. DuringWebwinkel Vakdagen 2025, she was one of the keynote speakers and told the viral story of their pistachio bar.
