How Much Does It Cost To Start A Candle Business?
Are you hesitant to start up your business idea? Maybe you are willing to start a business but do not have any idea. Don’t worry. I am here to guide you. Candle-making is a perfect business idea for commencing your side hustle or full-time career.
Do you know more than 80% of household people in the USA use candles daily? There are many reasons to begin candle-making as a business movement. You can start up this with a minimum investment, have your own space to determine the schedule of business, have a market place and have no limitations for geographical barriers.
So, how much does it cost to start a candle business? You can start your business on a small scale. You do not need a large investment to start the process. The average cost for commencing a candle-making business is around $44,000. The range of rental charges is between $1000 to $7000. Supplies, Insurance and legal costs, production equipment, business software, permit, and license charges assigned to the other costs. You can join the National Candle Association to acquire knowledge from experts to enhance your business opportunities. The profit margin of the candle business is in a significant range.
Once you read this article, you can get a clear idea about how to start a candle-making business, the cost and supplies that you need to begin it, profitability and development process of your business venture. Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
How to start candle making as a business?
Before selling candles, you must have a business plan to run your business properly. Here are some steps to start a candle-making business at home.
1. Choose the type of candles and business name
The most popular candle types are outdoor candles for yard and patio use. The scent is a crucial factor in determining the buying behavior of consumers.
Scent, shape, and size are the three mains of demanding candles in the marketplace. Vegan, soy wax, and luxury are some examples of candle types, and more than 10,000 varied scent candles are available.
Before choosing a business name for your business, you have to do a Google and trademark search to determine whether your business name is already available.
If not, you can select your favorable business name and register your domain name before someone takes it. The business name should represent your production uniquely.
2. Decide the place where you sell candles
Having a good demand for a candle is not only based on scent, shape, and size but also the designing skills. Your candle-making business should be unique, creative, and have a sense of customer desires. You can use different software platforms for designing candles.
Find out the types of waxes for candle making
There are many market venues to sell candles. You should carefully select the place before you sell. The advancement of technology can directly apply modern communication methods for selling candles.
- Online marketplaces can be used for selling and listing your products. (Example:- Etsy, eBay, Amazon, Facebook)
- Create your website as an e-commerce site so you can promote your business through it. Shopify is also a popular platform for this. You should carefully consider packaging and shipping costs during this process.
- Maintaining your candle store is an advantage for your operation process in business. It will be beneficial if you can settle a business venture in a strategic area.
- Selling candles in other stores and local craft shows will grant you to attract more customers. Local stores, gift shops, and retail stores are the venues where customers come to purchase handmade items.
3. Writing a business plan
Your business should have a unique and strong business plan for succeeding in a competitive market. You should mention your objectives, strategies, and ideas in the business plan.
Before writing it, you should have a clear idea about the initial candle line, which defines the cost of equipment and capital needed for starting the business.
Therefore, you should carefully create a business plan which will support growing your business. If you are afraid of creating your business plan, you can use a business plan template or business plan software.
4. Settle a manufacturing space and workspace
You should consider local zoning laws to get a clear idea of whether you can run a candle-making business in your area.
The flammable materials are included in candles, and you should confirm that your candle-making business has no or zero impact on the neighbors.
You must have a proper workspace for producing candles. You have worked with melted candles, and you need mold tables and mold machines to continue the process till the output.
Before adding flow melted wax, you should preheat the molds and fill them with cold water.
5. Do your business for legal procedures
It is essential to use legal procedures to ensure the safety of your candle making business. You can get lots of advice from the National Candle Association.
A fire safety cautionary label is also an important factor for keeping the legal guidance to your business. The major three roles of label lists are,
- Keep away from things that catch fire
- Keep away from children
- Burn within sight
6. Business Entity
Most people at the beginning of the candle-making business register their business venture under a limited liability company.
It is useful when something unexpected happens due to the fire or from scent; your assets will be protected by the legal entity.
7. Insurance, Permits, and Business Licenses
Product liability insurance and business insurance are necessary. It is a requirement whether your business is a limited liability company.
It will protect you when your product does physical damage to someone. According to the location, you need to add commercial property insurance or an owner’s policy.
8. Business bank account
This is the formal method to check whether your business has expenses, profit, and loss. You will need it when Tax Day comes.
9. Funding for small businesses
The Small Business Association is the most popular expert for funding your business. Here are some other options for funding,
- Business credit cards – provide business and personal expenses separate, access to cash and credit, and flexible payment options.
- Microloans – this will be needed for purchasing the equipment, inventory, supplies, and working capital.
- Crowdfunding – this is the way to gain more attraction from investors.
- Credit from vendors – it will be a valuable opportunity for small businesses because they can get short-term financing from vendors with a minimum requirement.
- Personal business loan – traditional business loan is a time-consuming process to start up. According to the statistics, 34% of small businesses only receive traditional funding from their bank.
10. Make a list of the equipment
Containers, wax melting pots, packaging supplies, and measuring instruments are the equipment. The wax (paraffin, beeswax, palm wax), dyes, and fragrance are the requirements for supplies.
11. Market your product
Social media is the major platform to market and promote your product as a newcomer. You can share your business journey through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and more.
Linking your business website to those platforms to build up a productive connection with consumers. You can market your product through local craft shows, especially during the holiday season.
What are the candle supplies you need?
When you start up your business, you can get wax and scents from a local craft supply store where you grow your business. You can purchase the supplies in bulk from a wholesale supplier.
You might be interested in reading – Are Paraffin Wax Candles Safe Or Toxic? Explained
You can find the right supplier after measuring the quality requirements for supplies. The sort of supplies can mention here,
- Wicks
- Containers
- Essential oils to make fragrance
- Waxes like paraffin, soy, beeswax, gel, etc.
- Supplies for shipping and packaging
- Coloring agents
It is not easy to find a supplier for beginners. Therefore, you should determine how many supplies you need for making candles and allocate an inventory for it.
You can use an inventory management app for this.
Read – Can You Use Paraffin Wax To Make Candles?
How much does it cost to start a candle business?
The beginners of candle making have a burning problem with how much it costs to start a candle business.
You can easily start a candle-making business when compared to other small business ideas. The minimum starts up cost for candle making is $12, and the maximum cost will be $28000.
The average cost will represent $14000. Here is the major list of expenses when starting a candle making business.
Is candle making a profitable business?
Of course, candle making is a profitable business. As a beginner in candle making, when you purchase initial supplies like wax, melting pots, and molds, other types of supplies can be bought easily.
There is a good profit margin for candle making business in the market. If you need to keep your profit growing, you should limit your product line and choose the most suitable fragrances and molds for creating candles.
It will lead to reducing your cost and increasing the profit margin. Also, it is essential to reduce shipping and delivery costs.
According to the statistical record, a start-up business can earn around $22,000, and the range of new candle businesses can yield $22,000 to $34,000.
This calculation is done for the sole proprietor. But those statistics will differ if you maintain a store or manufacturing center, hire employees, and so on.
Tips for developing your candle making business
If you are a newcomer to the candle-making industry, I would like to give you some tips to gain opportunities and develop your business to the maximum level.
Most new candle makers do not have a clear idea about the target market. Here, I have mentioned three major marketplaces to increase your business venture.
- Mass Market – the typically affordable candles can be seen in retail stores. Mostly used for packaging and containers. Pine and vanilla are the scents included in these candles. The price range goes from $5 to $8.
- Mid-Market – candles that have a broad appeal can be seen in local boutiques and gift shops, and outlets. This kind of candle has a unique combination of scents adding green tea, lemongrass, grapefruit, and mango. High-quality packaging, higher value, and brand image are unique features of these candles. Prices range from $9 to $14.
- Prestige or High-end – can be seen in luxury stores. The package, brand image, and fragrance is at a high-quality level. The price range is $15 to $22.
You should consider the individual brand niche of your product. Special packaging, unique names for your candles, the perfect combination of scents, and charitable support for goodwill are the ways to make your niche popular among customers.
Focus on creating a unique brand name and identity to represent your product to the world.
During the start-up period, you should have a clear idea of creating a budget with the estimated cost of supplies, equipment, and for all.
It is necessary to keep your product line small and manageable. Mention the price of candles according to the market price.
Use social media platforms to enhance efficiency and promote your business. Local craft shows and gift shops are also required places to sell your products.
Become more secure with legal procedures. It will be useful when something damage or bad happens to people.
Final thoughts about cost calculation to start a candle making business
Finally, I think you have got a clear idea about how to start a candle making business, cost, profit, and development.
Candle-making business can be easily started by anyone because it is easy to start, has a high demand market for products, easy to price and sell, and can get industrial knowledge from experts.
Beginners have a problem with how to start a candle making business. It’s not a difficult thing. But, you should follow basic steps to get a successful outcome.
Choose the types of candles and business name, decide the place where you sell candles, write a business plan, settle a manufacturing space and workspace, make legal procedures for business, funding for small businesses, list the equipment, and market the product major factors to follow.
Software expenses, office space expenses, inventory expenses, website, advertising, and marketing costs are the expenses that you experience while running this business.
Candle-making businesses have a good profit margin, and you can develop your business by following the right steps at the right time.
Thank you for reading the post. Stay with HobbyLeads for more about hobbies.
