The Wonderful Smells of Touring a Candle Company: The Last Word

I've had a good time on The Last Word learning how certain things are made. We’ve focused on items such as skateboards, knives and Swiss cheese. Today, I'm in Findley Lake, New York at a company that makes candles.

I'm taking a tour of Our Own Candle Company. Many boxes of candles are stacked and ready to be shipped. Most of the candles are sold wholesale to gift shops, grocery stores, and the like. Some are sold online. Others will be sold at school fund raisers. Others are sold at the company’s outlet store across the street. Kyle Gross is my tour guide. He’s also the president of Our Own Candle Company. Kyle says this month begins the busiest time of year for candle sales.

"This is it. Yeah. In the fall when the leaves start to change color and people are inside more. That's when we start to take off,” he says.

Kyle’s father, Larry, is the CEO. Larry remembers 25 years ago when the company was based in New Jersey. It sold many different products for the gift shop industry. Candles were not a priority item until Larry and Kyle tried making one themselves.

"We stumbled upon a formula and a great vessel to pour the product into. It ended up being just a phenomenal candle that kind of took over the company,” recalls Larry.

The company moved to Findley Lake soon after the successful candle experiment.. It keeps on making phenomenal candles. The secret to making a great candle is this. It all comes down to how well the brand of heated wax you use mixes in with the brand of candle scent you use. The exact percentage of wax to perfume is crucial.

"There's a lot of testing that goes into it,” says Kyle. “Now, over 25 years, we've honed in on what works best."

A new candle called “Fruity Hoops” is pattered after the smell of a fruit cereal.

"We smelled the cereal and we said, 'What if we made that into a candle?” remembers Kyle.

Larry visited the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas and liked the scent the hotel pumped through the vents.

“So we made a candle out of it,” says Kyle.

The company was successful in making a candle with a leather scent. Unsuccessful with a bacon scent. Pleasing the customer is the number one rule at Our Own Candle Company.

"You take care of your customers and your employees. If you take care of you customers and your employees, it doesn't matter what you sell,” declares Larry.

Our Own Candle Company employs 25 people at its Findley Lake location. Not much at the plant is automated. Just about everything is done by hand including the labeling of the candle packages. A large vat holds 5500 pounds of heated candle wax. Nearly 1,000 pounds of wax is used each day.