The Quiet Kingmaker Slipping Beauty Brands Into Your Hotel Shower
Hunter Amenities plays matchmaker between between products—and hotels, airlines and gyms.
Products that Hunter Amenities makes for various clients.
Photographer: Janelle Jones for Bloomberg Businessweek; prop stylist: Liz Mydlowski
Of all the photos Chrissy Fichtl has received from friends around the world, her favorite is one sent to her of two bath products in a hotel bathroom. The bottles are Apotheke, the brand Fichtl started in her kitchen in Brooklyn, New York, in 2012; her friend found the toiletries in his room at the Crowne Plaza in Cairo and sent a photo with the texts: “Egypt” and “Apotheke can see the pyramids from there!!” That people are discovering her creation on the other side of the world “is kind of amazing—like, ‘Look at her here!’ ” Fichtl says, referring to her products affectionately.
In recent years, Apotheke has grown from a small company handmaking candles and soaps to a globally distributed brand sold in upscale boutiques and featured in 100,000 hotel rooms. Fichtl credits that hospitality exposure as key to the growth of the company, estimating that 20% of its liquid soap sales stem from that. Yet, she says, “I’m not pitching hotels. I’m not making product and shipping it and fulfilling it monthly and keeping up with all of the stock.”