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Real Talk on Production: In-House or Outsource?
June 26, 2025
Let’s Be Real:
Deciding how to produce your product isn’t just a supply chain decision – it’s an identity crisis. For some, the devil’s in the details and they need full control. For others, it’s more important to scale quickly and figure the rest out later. Most early-stage founders are usually somewhere in between, stuck between cost pressures and quality promises, future ambitions and today’s reality.
This is the what we’re going to be unpacking at the “In-House or Outsource?” roundtable, hosted by Mentors for Makers at Bread & Jam Festival on 15th July at 1:30pm. With expertise from entry level all the way to fully automated production, Dean Willis will try to fit 35 years of industry knowledge into our 45 minute session. But, this is not a Q&A. Please bring your expereince and your perspective. Only you know what’s right for your brand.
Roundtable Breakdown:
0:00 – 0:05
Quick intros
0:05 – 0:15
Fictional Founders: Taking a step back from your brand can help you see the bigger picture and make sharper choices.
0:15 – 0:30
A discussion guided by your experiences, with 3–4 key questions at the centre. Expect strong opinions, healthy disagreement, and hopefully, some clarity.
0:30 – 0:40
We’ll pass around flashcards featuring real UK challenger brands. What about their journey surprises you? What does it say about your category?
0:40 – 0:45
Lightning wrap. What stuck with you? What will you take into your next big decision?
And if the convo spills past 45 minutes (it usually does), we’ll be around to keep the conversation going.
Build Or Buy?
Choosing between in-house production and outsourcing is about more than operations; it’s about control, cash flow, speed, and sanity.
We’re diving into questions like:
Does in-house production align with our long-term vision, or is speed-to-market more important right now?
- How do fixed vs. variable costs impact our financial flexibility at different stages?
- How important is hands-on oversight for maintaining quality and brand promise?
- How much time and energy will managing a CMO take compared to doing it ourselves?
Why This Matters:
Mentors for Makers is an initiative created by Adelphi Manufacturing to close the production knowledge gap – not with theory, but with grounded expereince. Over the decades of creating and building process and packaging machinery for those in the food and bev industry, we’ve notived many founders feel they are making their choices in the dark. This roundtable isn’t a panel. It’s a pressure release valve, a chance to say out loud: “I don’t know the right answer, but I want to figure it out.” Whether you leave with a decision or just a better question, that’s a win.
