Mr Beast launches its own chocolate brand Feastables

A sizable throng met American wrestler and influencer Logan Paul, who has 23.6 million YouTube subscribers, and Mr Beast, the largest YouTuber in the world with 329 million, when they arrived at Mumbai’s Jio World Drive on Sunday to debut their businesses. Soon after, the organizers had to close the shop and call off the event earlier than expected due to the surge in attendees and the clamor from fans vying for a glimpse of their favorite online superstars.

With prices of ₹499 for 60 grams and ₹349 for 35 grams, Mr Beast—real name James Stephen Donaldson, often known as Jimmy—launched his chocolate brand Feastables. Paul co-founded Prime Hydration, an energy drink brand that would retail for ₹399, alongside two other founders.

Despite their popularity in India, experts do not anticipate that the two brands will pose a serious threat since the nation is difficult for even the biggest manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) to enter. The majority of local customers often do not frequently consume things accessible at such price points, and the products are more expensive than competing Indian brands.

According to Sachin Bobade, an analyst at Daulat Capital, “I don’t think the launch would disturb the brands already operating in this segment because the Indian chocolate market is sizeable and can easily absorb a few new brands.” “But at this price point, dark chocolates are more popular in the premium category, and since Mr Beast’s Feastables are milk chocolates, I’m not sure how they’ll do in the consumer discretionary category.”

In February, Donaldson told Fortune that Feastables did indeed generate $100 million in sales annually. In the first 72 hours of its 2022 US debut, one million bars were sold.

In a joint video with CarryMinati, the largest YouTuber in India, Mr. Beast said that he will visit India if the video received 10 million views. Donaldson established his brand in India together with Paul’s Prime after realizing his immense popularity in the nation after the video had received over 8.5 million views.

Mohsin Mansoori, the shop manager of Freshpik at Jio World Drive, where the YouTubers presented the items, said, “We cannot discount the popularity of these YouTubers, but the price points at which Feastables and Prime enter the Indian market are pretty high for average consumers.” “We expect the first lot to sell quickly, despite the fact that they are costly.”

Globe Grocer Food Private Ltd. is presently importing 1,00,000 units from the first batch into India.

However, even Mansoori acknowledged that maintaining the initial success of these creator-led enterprises at this price range may be problematic since they are one-time purchases that are out of reach for ongoing use by common Indian customers.

Logan Paul collaborated with two Darren to develop the brand and its most recent offerings. JJ Olatunji, also known as KSI, has 16.4 million YouTube followers, while Jason Watkins Jr., also known as IShowSpeed, has 33.1 million.

The price of all eight flavors of Prime, including the most recent one that was introduced in partnership with Ishowspeed, would be reduced to ₹399. In the past, Prime was imported and marked up at Reliance Freshpik, where it was sold for ₹900, and at other local superstores for ₹600. Nevertheless, it is more expensive than other energy drink brands that are sold in India, such as Gatorade, Redbull, and Sting.

Additionally, according to a Fortune story, Prime Hydration, which had retail for £1500 per can, is now on sale for 31 cents. The Grocer quoted statistics from retail and consumer platform NielsenIQ. X. U.K. Prime sales in the first quarter of 2024 dropped 50% year-over-year to 12.8 million British pounds from 26.8 million the previous year. Prime aims to capture the energy and buzz in India.

Both Feastables and Prime, according to analysts monitoring the FMCG industry, lack market knowledge in India.

Additionally, as most chocolates and candies are sold during the gift-giving season, the ideal time to introduce it would have been before Diwali. Bobade of Daulat Capital said, “I think they just missed that opportunity by a couple of weeks.”

Nonetheless, the introduction of multibillion-dollar creator-led businesses in India encourages Indian influencers to develop their own labels. Numerous creator-led firms are predicted to emerge in India’s creator economy, which Ficci-EY projects would grow from ₹19 billion in 2023 to ₹34 billion by 2026.

Meet Gala, who manages creator acquisitions and co-founded SuperClan, an agency that assists influencers in starting businesses, said, “KSI and Logan Paul’s Prime Hydration is a testament to the power of creator-led businesses showing that when they leverage their influence to build authentic brands, they resonate deeply with their audience and disrupt traditional markets.”

Gala said, “We’ve seen at SuperClan how creator-relevant products—like stationery from ‘Peach by Vishnu,’ travel-friendly cargos from ‘Awra,’ and signed photocards from ‘in the AM’—drive success.” “Creating their own brands guarantees long-term significance in addition to increasing instant appeal. The Indian creator economy might be redefined by using relevance at its height.