lip gloss.....
Just using some of the reruns I've seen lately as an example. These businesses are so nichey.
I can see Auto Match and Car Cash because they work together and people buy and sell cars and cars are a big ticket item. Or a sign company or a interior design company because of his car businesses and Camping World businesses.
But candles and drums and lip gloss?
From the perspective of a TV show? Variety. Viewers don't want to see him investing in the same type of business every week. Part of his motivation in doing the show is demonstrating good practices in small business, and showing how that works at multiple levels is important.
Co-packing, for example. Marcus has invested in companies that needed contract packing (co-packers) to operate and/or expand properly. That dude with the cupcakes and the candle guy really benefited by having someone else do their production and packing. But on the flip side, Mr. Green Tea had outgrown their need for a co-packer. The growth of their company was being curtailed by NOT producing their own ice cream.
So the differences in philosophies in running smaller companies versus larger ones makes for a wider variety of episodes and a better overall understanding of how businesses work for the viewer.
And from Marcus' personal perspective? Diversification. He's built his reputation on having a diverse portfolio of companies. Not just big and small companies, but companies in wildly different businesses. It also probably interests him more to get involved in different things, including the oddball niche stuff, just for giggles. There's also been the ones that are more location-based; companies based where he lives (Chicago) or where he grew up (South Florida).
The candles? You're right, that's kind of an outlier, but it IS a big industry overall, so it could be very lucrative if he can make an inroads and carve out a piece for himself. And you saw his plan for them -- packaging their products into larger, boutique-y sales, not unlike the deal he made with the lip gloss company. So he sees investments like that potentially dovetailing with one another into an overall gifting space that could end up in nationwide stores and catalogs.
We saw him take two stabs at getting into the floral business. The first could have been a strong retail reseller of his candle line, and the second could have included a candle in an assortment sold nationwide.
Or maybe the dude just likes candles. ;)