Kringle Candle

When he was just sixteen, my father Mike Kittredge made a candle using his old childhood crayons for his mother’s Christmas present. This was the start of a tiny but fast-growing business called the Yankee Candle Company. By following his inspiration and always stressing quality, my father made Yankee the candle industry standard and reshaped the modern giftware landscape. He sold Yankee Candle to Forstmann Little & Co. in 1998, and retired from the world of wax and wicks – or so he thought. In 2008, I made my first candle on my family’s antique Queen Anne stove purely for fun. So when my 2009 college course required that I create and promote a product, my choice was natural: candles. As I worked on the project I felt a great sense of heritage and fulfillment. It was an idea that wouldn’t go away. I discussed expanding the academic assignment into a real business with my father. We spent several days considering what it would be like for both of us if I followed in his footsteps. There was a growing excitement as we realized we both wanted to explore the concept further. As part of this process, we decided to see what sort of available facilities might be suited to candle crafting. On a drive through lovely Bernardston, Massachusetts, we discovered a building for sale which seemed to hold great promise. And it was familiar; the owner was a very good former customer of my Dad’s during Yankee Candle’s heyday.