Marion Grasby started experimenting with content to help promote her food products around five years ago. Now, it’s a core pillar of her business.
Key Takeaways
- Marion Grasby appeared on MasterChef Australia in 2010, and launched her food product business Marion’s Kitchen shortly after
- Marion’s Kitchen’s Instagram page has 660,000 followers, and is a core pillar of the business
More than 12 years after she was eliminated from season two of MasterChef Australia, Marion Grasby says she no longer gets recognised for participating on the show. In fact, much of her audience doesn’t even know she was on it. Instead, Grasby tells Forbes Australia her fans now stop her on the street to thank her for her recipe videos on Instagram.
Grasby, who is of Thai heritage, launched her food product business, Marion’s Kitchen, almost immediately after she wrapped filming on MasterChef. She sells meal kits and stir-fry sauces, marinades and salad dressings, and her own cookbooks.
“They have to feel like they’re with you, not just watching you.”
– Marion Grasby, Marion’s Kitchen founder
But she only started making content to promote her products around five years ago. Now, her Instagram channel Marion’s Kitchen has 660,000 followers.
“I initially did it to promote the products, but it kind of turned into its own beast,” she says. “Now, the content is really one of the core pillars of the company. It turned from being a food product business into media publishing.”
Grasby’s content now banks 12 million likes, comments and shares every single month – and around 40 million views each month. While they come for the recipes, they stay for Grasby herself.
“The people that follow me, follow me because they’re interested in me, what I’m doing, what I’m cooking … It’s more than a passive TV thing.
“It’s like we’re actually having a conversation and we’re talking and we’re interacting. I think that’s the most important thing about building that social community – they have to feel like they’re with you, not just watching you.”
Grasby’s following has grown globally, too. She sells her products in the US, New Zealand and Australia, and she runs two studios: one in Noosa and one in Bangkok. She employs 20 people to handle the content creation.
“I still try to keep the content side really natural and organic,” she says. “I’m the worst actress in the world – I have to love what I’m cooking, I have to love what I’m doing, otherwise it shows.”
Grasby released her second self-published cookbook in July this year. Her first, which was only available for purchase via her social media channels, sold 40,000 copies in 10 months.
When asked what her plans might be for the future, she says: “More of that, really. The main thing for me is keeping the passion alive – doing it day in, day and out … and still loving it.”