Arcade Beauty, long established as a leader in fragrance and cosmetics sampling, has expanded its manufacturing footprint and capabilities as it moves further into the CDMO space.
Recent investments, including a facility acquisition in France and planned capacity expansion in Dayton, New Jersey, highlight a strategy focused on scaling blending, improving supply chain flexibility, and supporting both low- and high-volume production.
In this Q&A for Packaging World and Contract Manufacturing + Packaging, President of Arcade Beauty North America Jorge Garcia explains how Arcade is leveraging its roots to support increasingly complex retail programs across global markets.
CM+P: What is Arcade Beauty's niche?
Jorge Garcia: If you think about Arcade Beauty, typically the first thing that comes to mind is that we're a leading supplier of samples in the beauty market. That's effectively where the business grew and how we became who we are today.
But over the last several years—certainly the last five to ten—the business has continued to expand its footprint and capabilities, and we've gotten a lot more into what I'll call the world beyond samples.
A lot of our business, which people may not recognize as much, is now supporting our customer base with saleable products, whether that's a discovery set or full retail product. We effectively do the gamut across beauty, and especially on the fragrance side, where we offer blending and filling across the full range of retail formats.
CM+P: What would you say is unique about your approach?
Garcia: A big part of it comes from our DNA. We started as a sampling business, and that's given us an entrepreneurial spirit that you see today. It brings a lot of agility and flexibility to our operations, which has allowed us to support not only the prestige brands, but also emerging and "masstige" players.
That includes automating where necessary to maintain the flexibility to support project complexity, which also exists in the retail and saleable space. In many cases we also support low Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs), which has really supported our growth. That's often where relationships start, and then they expand from there.
President of Arcade Beauty North America Jorge Garcia.Arcade Beauty
We also differentiate through innovation. For example, we partnered with NEST New York on an alcohol-free fragrance formulation, a key development. We can replicate existing customer formulas, but we can also help develop new and more innovative ones, and that's now true across both the U.S. and France with the Ploërmel acquisition.
CM+P: What was behind this expansion in France?
Garcia: We are super excited about it. What drove it was continued strong demand from our customer base. We see the category as still very fragmented, and we have the capabilities to offer not only a piece of the market but now full scale as well. Our Biopack facility in France had reached capacity—we outgrew it—and we saw this as a great opportunity to expand within the fragrance area in a much broader way.
Through the acquisition from Groupe Rocher in late 2024, we significantly increased capacity and, importantly, brought blending capabilities into France, similar to what we have in our Dayton facility. That's a key value-add for customers and something not everyone can claim.
CM+P: How is this a strategic move for Arcade Beauty?
Garcia: As we become a more prominent player in the CDMO space, scale is critical. This move is not just about capacity; it's about capability.
Bringing blending to France is particularly important because, as you know, that is where the fragrance world's deepest expertise and heritage reside. That gives us a path to grow in a much more meaningful way and grab market share from competitors that, frankly, may not have the same level of flexibility we do, or the service and quality levels we've been able to offer.
Ultimately, it's about doing more of what we were already doing, but in a much bigger way and making a more serious commitment that we're going to be bigger players in the fragrance retail filling space.
CM+P: Would you say your company is now moving away from the sampling niche?
Garcia: Sampling is still very much a core part of what we do, and I think people would be surprised by the level of growth we're seeing in our retail and saleable business. We're seeing a lot of great trends in discovery sets, which was a natural progression from sampling.
From a sampling perspective, we can offer everything from a label, which is still the most cost-effective sampling solution out there today, to vials, spray pens, discovery sets, and more. We can effectively cover any solution and give customers options that match their budget or the type of program they're looking for.
Arcade Beauty recently expanded blending capabilities into France. Pictured here is a blending operation in their Dayton, NJ, facility.Arcade Beauty
CM+P: What would you say is Arcade Beauty's approach to sustainability?
Garcia: We're very proud of the work we did with Estée Lauder on an 80% recyclable paper-based packette [sachet], that won an award at Luxe Pack New York.
The 80% paper solution we created is much easier to recycle and significantly reduces plastic content while maintaining the integrity and look of a traditional foil laminate packet.
This innovation was the result of a close collaboration with Estée Lauder who have ambitious sustainability goals. What was exciting was that we were able to get well above what the current regulation standards, hitting sustainability targets that are years out, not just today. It shows what we can do when we partner with brands and support future market trends or brand specific objectives.
CM+P: Where do you think external manufacturing for cosmetics and fragrance is headed?
Garcia: Premiumization is going to continue to be a major trend. At the same time, customers are asking for lower MOQs and more flexibility while still expecting a premium feel and constant innovation. Discovery sets and spray pens are continuing to grow. They're formats that really connect with consumers.
We also talked about alcohol-free fragrance. It's not as prominent today as it could be, but we believe it's an area with strong growth potential, and our work with NEST New York shows what's possible there.
Hair and body mists is an emerging trend, particularly with younger consumers who are drawn to its entry point into fragrance. It's a fast growing category, and we're already producing today in both the U.S. and in France so we're well positioned to scale with it.
Overall, it's about staying flexible and continuing to innovate in a market that's evolving quickly. We built this business on agility, flexibility, and speed for our customers, and that's what's going to continue to drive us forward.
