Latest / Influencer Marketing with Fexingo: Creators, Sponsorships, and Modern Endorsement Deals / Why Influencers Are Now Buying Their Own Factories
Transcript
- Lucas: So Emma Chamberlain just bought a coffee factory. Not a licensing deal, not a co-packer agreement — she bought the building, the roasters, the packaging line, the whole thing. Luna: Wait — Chamberlain Coffee was already a real brand, right? She had it in Target and everything. Lucas: Exactly. She launched it in 2019 through a standard licensing arrangement with a roaster in Southern California. They roasted the beans, packaged them, handled distribution. She got a royalty — probably around 15 to 20 percent of wholesale revenue. But she had zero control over the supply chain. Luna: So the factory move flips that. She goes from being a licensor to actually running operations. Lucas: Right. The acquisition happened quietly earlier this year — a facility in Austin, Texas, about forty thousand square feet. They're now roasting, grinding, and packaging Chamberlain Coffee in-house. And the economics change dramatically. With a licensing model, your margin is the royalty. With owned production, you capture the entire gross margin — roughly 60 percent for specialty coffee, compared to maybe 20 percent on the licensing side. Luna: That's a huge leap. But isn't it also a huge leap in risk? Factories are capital intensive. Lucas: Absolutely. Let's be real — this is not a move for the average influencer with a merch line. Chamberlain Coffee was already doing an estimated twelve to fifteen million dollars in annual revenue. They had the scale to justify a multi million dollar capital outlay. For a creator doing a few hundred thousand in T-shirt sales? Buying a factory would be a fast way to burn through your savings. Luna: So it's a top-one-percent play. But maybe that's the point — the biggest creator brands are outgrowing the licensing model. Lucas: That's exactly what's happening. If you look at the trajectory — licensing starts as the safe bet when you have no experience in manufacturing. You let a partner handle the hard stuff. But once your brand is proven at retail, the limitations start to surface. Lead times are dictated by the co-packer's schedule. You can't tweak the product without their approval. And margins are capped. Luna: And Chamberlain isn't the first. MrBeast bought a chocolate factory for Feastables a couple years ago. Has that worked out? Lucas: That's the closest comparison. Feastables acquired a facility in Georgia in 2023, and it's been a mixed bag. The factory gave them control over the recipe and packaging — they could iterate faster, like the shift from compostable wrappers to a more shelf-stable material. But they've also had to deal with production hiccups. In late 2024, there was a supply issue with cacao that disrupted a new product launch. When you own the factory, those problems are yours to solve, not your partner's. Luna: So you trade flexibility for control. With a co-packer, you can switch suppliers or change formulas with a phone call. With your own factory, you're married to that equipment and those fixed costs. Lucas: Exactly. And the fixed costs are significant. A mid-size roasting facility like Chamberlain's probably cost between three and five million dollars to acquire and retrofit. Then you have ongoing costs — labor, maintenance, raw material procurement. You need a real operations team. Chamberlain hired a former Starbucks supply chain director to run it. Luna: That's a whole different skill set from being a content creator. It's basically running a manufacturing business. Lucas: And that's the tension at the heart of this trend. The creator economy has been defined by asset-light models — low overhead, high margins, scalable digital products. Factories are the opposite. They're asset-heavy, operationally complex, and not easily scalable in the traditional sense. But for a handful of creator brands that have reached a certain revenue threshold, the math starts to flip. Luna: Can we talk about the quality angle too? Because one reason creators cite for going vertical is control over ingredients and sustainability. Lucas: That's a big part of it. Chamberlain has been vocal about using ethically sourced beans and compostable packaging. When you license, you're trusting your partner to follow through on those commitments. When you own the factory, you can audit every bean. You can choose the supplier, negotiate the contracts, and ensure the certifications are real. It's a powerful story to tell your audience — 'I made this myself, in my own facility, with ingredients I personally vetted.' Luna: And that story translates to higher perceived value. Consumers, especially Gen Z, care about provenance. Knowing that your coffee is roasted in a creator-owned facility adds a layer of authenticity that a generic co-packer can't match. Lucas: Right. And it also allows for faster innovation. If you want to launch a seasonal flavor — say a peppermint mocha for December — you don't have to wait for your co-packer's production calendar. You can just schedule it. Chamberlain Coffee has already released three limited-edition blends this year, which is aggressive for a small brand. Luna: But let's zoom out. How many creator brands are realistically at a scale that justifies this? I can think of maybe a dozen — MrBeast, Chamberlain, maybe Jeffree Star, Kylie Jenner on the cosmetics side. But that's it. Lucas: You're right — it's a small club. But I think the trend isn't about the number of creators doing it; it's about the strategic signal it sends. When the biggest players in the space start buying factories, it changes the benchmark for what a serious creator brand looks like. Investors and retailers start to expect that level of vertical integration from any brand that claims to be premium. Luna: So for the mid-tier creator, the takeaway isn't 'go buy a factory.' It's 'if you want to sell physical products, start thinking about how you'll eventually differentiate beyond just a logo on a generic product.' Lucas: Exactly. The factory is the endgame, not the starting point. Most creators should still use print-on-demand for apparel or co-packers for food. But they should be asking their partners questions like: what's your minimum order quantity? Can we customize the packaging? How fast can you turn around a new SKU? Those are the questions that prepare you for eventually owning your own production. Luna: I want to circle back to the risk side. If a creator's brand is tied to their personal reputation, what happens if the factory has a quality issue? A batch of contaminated coffee could be devastating. Lucas: That's the nightmare scenario. When you license, the co-packer typically indemnifies you for product liability. When you own the factory, you're on the hook. That's why Chamberlain had to invest in quality control systems — metal detectors, lab testing, traceability software. It's a whole new level of responsibility. And if something goes wrong, the backlash hits your personal brand directly, not just your business entity. Luna: Speaking of the show — if these deep dives into the business side of content creation are adding value to your work, you might already know that this podcast runs entirely on listener support. A small group of regular listeners powers it through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's what keeps it ad-free and independent. Lucas: Yeah, it's a real thing. No sponsors, no ad breaks — just the economics of people who find these conversations useful. And it's not a big ask; it's just the honest reality of how we make this many episodes without selling out. If it's been helpful to you, that's the way to keep it going. Luna: Alright — back to factories. So we've talked about the upsides and the risks. But what's the next frontier? Once you own the factory, do you start selling to other brands? Become a co-packer yourself? Lucas: That's actually happening. Some creator-owned factories are opening their capacity to other, smaller creators. MrBeast's chocolate facility in Georgia has started offering private-label production for other confectionery brands. It turns a cost center into a profit center. Chamberlain hasn't announced anything like that yet, but it's a logical next step. Luna: So the influencer becomes not just a brand owner but a manufacturer for the entire creator economy. That's a whole new layer of vertical integration. Lucas: Exactly. It creates a two-sided business: you make money on your own product sales, and you make money on production services for others. The factory becomes an asset that generates revenue from multiple streams. And it gives the original creator even more influence over the ecosystem. Luna: But doesn't that dilute the brand? If your factory is making candy for other influencers, how do you maintain the premium perception of your own chocolate? Lucas: That's the big strategic question. MrBeast has navigated it by keeping the private-label business separate — it operates under a different division with its own management. The Feastables brand still uses dedicated lines. It's not impossible, but it requires discipline. Most creators who go this route will need to build a B2B arm that doesn't compete with their own brand in the consumer's mind. Luna: So in five years, we might see a handful of mega influencer owned manufacturers supplying hundreds of smaller creator brands. The creators who own the factories become the infrastructure. Lucas: That's the trajectory. And it mirrors what happened in the media space earlier — influencers buying their own studios, their own ad exchanges. Now it's happening in physical production. The creator economy is building its own supply chain, from raw materials to retail. And the ones who own the means of production are going to have a lasting advantage. Luna: One last thought — is there any category where this doesn't make sense? Like, what about digital products? You can't buy a factory for a course. Lucas: Right, digital products are already asset-light. But even there, you see creators buying their own analytics platforms or hosting infrastructure. It's the same logic — control and margin. The principle is: own the key input. For physical goods, the factory is the key input. For digital goods, it might be the software or the data. The smartest creators are asking: what's the bottleneck in my business? And then buying it. Luna: Chamberlain buying a coffee factory is a really concrete example of that principle in action. It's not just a vanity project — it's a strategic move that changes the economics of her entire business. Lucas: And it's a bet that the brand has the staying power to justify the capital. For her, it seems like a solid bet. For the rest of the creator economy, it's a signpost — here's what the endgame looks like. Whether you're aiming for it or not, understanding the playbook helps you make smarter decisions at every stage.