From the pages of In Business magazine.
With apple spice aromas wafting through her west side home, Susan Senatori temporarily transforms her farmhouse kitchen into a candle-making workspace, laying out a large bag of wax, a scale, a glass measuring bowl, candy thermometer, fragrance oils, wicks, and glass jars.
Senatori launched Madison Candle Co. six years ago having never made candles before. The idea stems back to a discussion her family had one Christmas about the fact that none of the gifts under the tree were made in the U.S. “It was sad, actually,” she recalls, “so I challenged myself to create a small gift item that would clearly be made in the USA.”
Her business idea turned out to be in her basement. “We traveled a fair amount and I’ve always brought something back from areas we visited,” Senatori explains. “For some reason, I was always fascinated with sand and through the years we had collected sand from Cape Cod, Nantucket, the Caribbean and St. John, Maine, Vermont, Chicago, Milwaukee…”
Sensing potential, Senatori went online to learn about the art of candle making and soon turned her vacation hobby into a business venture.
A basement cabinet displays glass jars and plastic bags containing sand samples from Caribbean beaches to riverbeds in Colorado and Napa Valley. The distinctions are significant, with sand varying in consistency and color from the whitest white from Destin, Fla., to a deep-brownish, almost coffee-colored sand from Senatori’s hometown of Iron Mountain, Mich. South Beach, Fla. sand is a coarse, tweedy combination of black and white, while North Captiva Island sand runs the gamut from the tiniest of shells to a fine powder, depending on surf conditions.
Destin-ed for growth
With sand laid out on a work table, Senatori sprays adhesive on a small glass jar and gently rolls it through to affix the granules. It will require several coats, she explains, and some varieties are easier to work with than others. For example, the white sand from Destin is among the most popular but also the most difficult to work with because it does not easily adhere to the jars. “It’s like silica gel,” Senatori describes. “It squeaks when you walk on it.” Her husband, Tom, usually handles this duty, she says, sometimes rolling a dozen jars at a time while she attends to candle duty.
In her upstairs kitchen, she carefully weighs out six ounces of dye-free soy wax flakes, places them in a glass bowl, and heats them in a microwave. On the counter, empty jars stand at the ready, each prepared with red twine and artistic tags designed by Tom. A cotton wick is placed inside each jar.
Once melted, the clear wax cools until a candy thermometer reads 180 degrees, at which point Senatori adds the desired fragrance. Madison Candle Co. uses about 18 different fragrance oils and makes others by mixing and matching to create a sensory experience. A candle coated in sand from Colorado smells like pine, for example. “We have a scent called Buck Naked that smells just like you’re sitting on a Caribbean beach,” she adds.
Once the liquid reaches the right consistency, she empties it into the appropriate jar and then straightens and centers the wick to ensure that the candle will burn evenly.
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Senatori orders all of her ingredients online, from the jars to the soy wax. A 50-pound bag of wax flakes costs her about $85, and the jars, which come in two sizes, average $2 each, including shipping. All told, a candle typically costs about $4 to produce. Retailers, who account for the bulk of Senatori’s sales, purchase them for about $7 each, so her profit margin is low. The candles sell to the public for about $14 each.
“Direct (online) sales are more lucrative,” she admits, “but I didn’t go into this to make money. It’s just fun!”
Fall and winter are the busiest candle seasons, as outdoor temperatures plummet and people head indoors. In a typical year, Madison Candle Co. sells between 500 and 1,000 candles at stores like Stone Fence and Anthology, as well as Etsy.com.
Senatori also runs a seasonal gift shop in Grafton, Vt., where she and Tom have a second home. Candles there are made with sand from Vermont’s riverbanks or Lake Champlain, and not surprisingly, Maple Syrup is the most popular candle scent year-round. “Scents are truly localized. We try to capture the ambiance of the area the sand comes from,” Senatori explains, “but we don’t go out looking for sand. If we happen to be in an area, we’ll take a small amount home.” She hopes one day to visit Venice, Italy, and she’s yet to travel to Hawaii.
Senatori says the best thing about Madison Candle Co. is the freedom her small, home-based business allows. She can work in her own kitchen at any time of day or night as orders dictate. “Last night I was making a candle while watching football,” she smiles. The business still has capacity for growth, and recently a popular home-décor online retailer contacted her about joining its site. She’s contemplating the idea.
While the company’s most popular candle is Cape Cod, Senatori says Mendota Red is the hot seller in Madison.
“The thing about making candles is that it takes a little art, a little science, and a lot of creativity,” she states. Mendota Red, made from a combination of “outdoorsy” fragrances, is a perfect example.
“Mendota Red is interesting,” Senatori admits. “We purposely made it to smell like a stinky lake. Seriously! If people don’t like it they don’t have to buy it but if you’re born and raised around the lakes here, you know it brings a touch of home.”
Madison Candle Co.
608.556.6981
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