Thinking about the coffee space. In coffee, influencer CPG products are also typically white labels, which means they are produced by centralized large scale roasting companies and packaged under a label. Chamberlain coffee being a good example which is roasted by a company formerly known as Bixby, which specialized in celebrity branded products.
The success of these brands is based basically entirely on their success in marketing (including capitalizing on the fame of the influencers who own them). In reality Chambelain, like most of these brands, is unprofitable despite its high visibility on the shelves of luxury grocery stores and in prime LA real estate (e.g. century city mall). The marketing is really the only product that these companies make. Even packaging also can often be done by the producer rather than the influencer's company.
In general, I think these brands are a bad thing for the specialty coffee scene. The bag price for Chambelain is about $20 for 12oz, comparable with local specialty roaster who are doing very interesting things and roasting their own product. Chamberlain's grocery store bags, by contrast, don't even have a roasted on date. This should be illegal in coffee IMO.
People are paying specialty prices for a frankly bad product, and these brands are entering a hypercompetitive product market in which local roasters are already struggling. They're hiding industrial coffee behind specialty looking packages. Of course the economics are better for centralized roasters than small speciality roasters. Loquat (or Morii) can never compete on price with these roasters, but if people are willing to pay that $20 a bag, it's infinitely better for the coffee world that they pay it for a direct trade, locally roasted, interesting origin and process, etc. then just paying it for some celebrity SLOP.
It’s a good point, celebrity CPG brands are everywhere, even the ones without celebrity names in the marketing. In general there is an epidemic of celebrities entering all facets of the economy to capitalize off their fame and exploit their fans or following for cash
Thinking about the coffee space. In coffee, influencer CPG products are also typically white labels, which means they are produced by centralized large scale roasting companies and packaged under a label. Chamberlain coffee being a good example which is roasted by a company formerly known as Bixby, which specialized in celebrity branded products.
The success of these brands is based basically entirely on their success in marketing (including capitalizing on the fame of the influencers who own them). In reality Chambelain, like most of these brands, is unprofitable despite its high visibility on the shelves of luxury grocery stores and in prime LA real estate (e.g. century city mall). The marketing is really the only product that these companies make. Even packaging also can often be done by the producer rather than the influencer's company.
In general, I think these brands are a bad thing for the specialty coffee scene. The bag price for Chambelain is about $20 for 12oz, comparable with local specialty roaster who are doing very interesting things and roasting their own product. Chamberlain's grocery store bags, by contrast, don't even have a roasted on date. This should be illegal in coffee IMO.
People are paying specialty prices for a frankly bad product, and these brands are entering a hypercompetitive product market in which local roasters are already struggling. They're hiding industrial coffee behind specialty looking packages. Of course the economics are better for centralized roasters than small speciality roasters. Loquat (or Morii) can never compete on price with these roasters, but if people are willing to pay that $20 a bag, it's infinitely better for the coffee world that they pay it for a direct trade, locally roasted, interesting origin and process, etc. then just paying it for some celebrity SLOP.
It’s a good point, celebrity CPG brands are everywhere, even the ones without celebrity names in the marketing. In general there is an epidemic of celebrities entering all facets of the economy to capitalize off their fame and exploit their fans or following for cash