4 Things I Wish I Knew About Selecting Candle Jars
When you develop your business from an idea, you are faced with more decisions than you can keep track of. One of the most important things I did early in the process was to create a detailed plan of how I would get my candle business off the ground.
Within that plan, I forecasted what I thought would be the major decisions and roughly when in the process I would have to make them. If you read my first blog post, you know the process I took to go from a broad idea to my candle brand. Once I had created the brand, I was eager to develop my first line of candles.
However, before I did any of that, I had to figure out what type of candle vessel I would use. I knew I wanted to use glass jars and I had a certain size in my mind. You know, that typical candle you see on someone’s coffee table. I wanted something unique. Something that would stand out. After an extensive search, I settled on the 12 oz apothecary jar. Why? It looked cool and a little different (but not too different). What could go wrong?
From Starter Kit to Wholesale Order: Taking Off the Training Wheels
I went to my candle wholesaler’s website and ordered a few dozen jars along with an array of wicks to test. The candles I made with the starter kit worked well. They were easy though. They call it a “starter kit” for a reason right? The tins had been paired with the proper wicks that burned just right with the prepackaged fragrances and dye chips. Now I was on my own. I made an assortment of candles in my new apothecary jars. I tried different colors, scents, and of course wicks. And guess what? They looked pretty good! Was it possible that these jars were perfect? (Spoiler alert: No.)
I waited 48 hours for the candles to cure and it was time to test! I grabbed one of the candles and my trusty fire extinguisher and tested my first non-starter kit candle. It worked! Kinda. As in, the candle burned, and best of all, didn’t explode. But the melt-pool didn’t exactly cover the entire diameter of the candle. But it didn’t explode! And it even smelled good! I went on testing candles until I found a wick that created an even melt pool all the way across the candle without getting dangerously hot.
After I got my candles down, I focused on developing my brand (catch up on the full story of how I developed my brand here). Once my brand was hammered out, it was time to design my labels.
Testing candles in the apothecary jars
1. Know the size and shape of the labels that will fit on your jars
Remember when I said the apothecary jars weren’t perfect? Well here’s why. When I went to measure the maximum label that would fit on the jar, it didn’t leave a lot of room to work with.
You see, when I developed the brand around Road Trip Candle Company, I wanted each candle to have a story. Not the “story” of how I use eco-friendly, renewable soy wax (although I do) and how the candles are hand-poured with care (they are) and all that. Literally a story printed on the labels. As in, Vermont Evergreen would tell the story of a family chopping down an Evergreen tree in the mountains of Vermont in December. Boston Cream Pie would tell the story of someone wandering around historic Boston before finding the perfect bakery. You get the idea (but if you like our stories, you can check them all out in our Etsy shop candle descriptions).
In addition to the story, there were some other important things to get on there. It would be important for it to say “Road Trip Candle Company” on there somewhere right? And of course it needed to say somewhere what the scent was and what was inside the pretty jar (soy wax obviously) in addition to some other important stuff. I could write a whole blog post on designing a label and figuring out exactly what to put on the label (And guess what? I am going to. So be on the lookout for that).
So if you have been paying attention and you looked at the picture of the apothecary jar, you might be thinking “how is all of that going to fit on this candle without using size 3 font?” To make a long story short, this is why the apothecary jar isn’t perfect. As much as it pained me, it was time to move on to new jars.
2. Figure out how size, weight, and shape impact shipping costs
After a respectful and somber moment of silence for my apothecary jars, I decided I wanted a vessel that was roughly the same volume but could also accommodate a large square label. I scoured the internet for the perfect jar. After searching far and wide, I settled on a straight sided tumbler. I know what you are thinking. Not nearly as unique as the apothecary jar. I know I know! But it had the surface area I needed for my new labels. See, by this point I had been working with a label designer (more on this process in a future post) and had big square labels with lots of words.
I was super excited about the new labels and couldn’t wait to get them on my new jars. I ordered 24 jars and eagerly slapped on my new labels once they arrived. And they looked good! I was excited. But something about the jar with the label looked off. They were missing something. Back to the internet to see if I could find something better.
Straight sided tumbler with a test label
Another vigorous internet search brought me to the 12 oz status jar. It looked perfect. It had a large flat area for my square wordy labels and a big heavy base that gave the jar, um, some status (cleaver jar makers. They didn’t name it the “status jar” for no reason). I was cautiously optimistic. I ordered 24 status jars from the wholesaler, and soon enough they arrived in two boxes. As I brought the boxes into my house, I could already feel that they were heavier than the straight sided tumblers. But I’m a moderately healthy young-ish person, so I didn’t think much of the extra weight.
I experimented to find the right wick, made a few of the scents from my first candle line (more on this in a future post), and carefully placed my labels. I stepped back to take a look. The moment of truth. I thought they looked good. Really good! I locked them in as my signature jars and moved on to the next step in the process.
Status jar that I still use today
Fast forward a few months and I am still using those jars. As I started experiencing more success selling online and at farmer’s markets, I was ordering more and more jars. The important thing to remember about ordering wholesale is that you pay for shipping. Since Amazon offers free shipping on almost anything, we have all gotten spoiled when it comes to shipping costs. That bubble bursts quickly when you are calculating your costs and realize that you are paying almost as much for shipping the jars as you are for the jars themselves.
As a new candle shop on Etsy, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to get costs down so that you can offer competitive prices (more on how to calculate your costs and lower prices in future posts). It is essential to remember that a heavy, well made jar will add to that price. Before you finalize your jar selection, work backwards. Figure out what range you want your candles to sell for at retail. If a heavy vessel and its shipping costs take on too large a percentage of that cost, you will need to find an alternative.
Oh, and remember when I said people are spoiled by Amazon and don’t like to think about shipping costs? Well not only does that impact your candles when the jars come in, it impacts them when the finished candles are shipped out. People on Etsy want cheap or free shipping and candles cost more to ship than you would think. You can’t avoid the weight of the wax (obviously), so it is essential to make sure you do not add too much cost with vessel weight.
Weight also isn’t the only thing to consider when determining shipping costs. That big heavy base on my status jars also makes the candles a unique shape. Fitting one candle or even two into a shipping box is no problem, but fitting three, four, or five candles safely into a box that can ship at an affordable price can feel like an incredibly stressful game of Tetris.
If figuring out affordable shipping for a vessel that looks aesthetically pleasing and can accommodate your labels doesn’t seem stressful enough, then good news! You also need to worry about how the vessel will factor into hot throw (fancy term for how much fragrance you smell when the candle is lit) and burn time.
3. The vessel you select will play a major role in your candle’s hot throw and burn time
As I was crafting what I assumed would become the word’s best candle, I spent hours researching and experimenting with different waxes, fragrances, wicks, and pouring temperatures to create the perfect hot throw. As I worked through all that, I almost overlooked the role of the vessel.
The science seems simple enough. A wider candle is going to have a larger melt pool. A larger melt pool is going to melt more fragrance. The more fragrance that melts, the more will be thrown into the air. Wider vessels are going to burn faster and produce more hot throw. As you experiment with wider jars, your risk for tunneling (a candle that doesn’t create an even melt pool all the way across and leaves a “tunnel” of wax) increases. Thinner jars burn slower but have less hot throw. Thinner jars are less likely to encounter tunneling, but there is a safety risk if the vessel gets too hot.
Fortunately, I got the desired hot throw and burn time with the vessels I selected. Unfortunately for this blog post, that means I don’t have any cute stories or witty comments. It’s pretty straight forward. So once you have all that figured out and your candles are selling, what could go wrong?
4. Find vessels that can be purchased from multiple sources or plan well in advance
So at this point you might be thinking, “oh good. It sounds like he navigated that tough path and probably sold millions of candles without running into any further problems.” Well. Not exactly. Remember earlier when I said I scoured the internet for the perfect jar? Well, I foolishly assumed that any legitimate wholesaler I found would be able to supply me with the however many jars I needed whenever I decided I needed them. Seeing as all of this story takes place during Covid, that assumption now seems pretty foolish. Reflecting back on it now, it seems pretty obvious that unforeseen things happen and my supplies might not always be available.
As a low budget new company, I basically ordered the jars as I needed them. I started with 24 jars and slowly increased my orders (Remember earlier when I said I noticed that the boxes were slightly heavier than the old boxes, but I didn’t mind? Well lets just say when I am moving fifty boxes instead of two, I mind slightly more).
This method worked well for a while by allowing me to slowly build the company without a massive investment. As I sold candles, I used the profits to order more jars, labels, fragrances. You get the idea. Candle supplies.
Like I said, this method worked for a while. One day I went to put in a new jar and lid order and the jars were sold out! They didn’t even have a date listed for when they would be back in stock.
In addition to the normal Covid related obstructions, this was around the time that big boat got stuck in the Suez Canal. Remember that? I never found out exactly what made my jars go out of stock, but let’s just say there are a lot of possible suspects. Whatever the cause, I was out of jars and was in a bind. Luckily, they dislodged the boat or whatever and it didn’t take much time for my jars to become available again. The key takeaway here is to make sure you can obtain your vessels and other supplies from multiple sources or have enough on hand to last quite some time.
Key Takeaways
Starting a candle business (or any business really) requires a ton of planning, but things will never go according to plan. You need to keep the big picture in mind and gradually chip away at your tasks so that the business can grow. Here is my list of key takeaways that can also be applied to other aspects of your business:
- Start small and take your time. As eager as you are to start selling your candles, some extra time and thought early in the process can save a lot of time and money down the road.
- Always keep the big picture in mind. Everything in your business is connected. I could have saved time and money by realizing early that the status jars would not have a large enough diameter for my labels.
- Make practical decisions. Don’t be swept up in the excitement of a unique vessel without considering shipping costs, shipping risks, and availability.
- Expect to make mistakes. It is part of the process. Don’t get hung up on it, minimize risk, learn from your mistakes, and keep moving. Factor some extra costs in and some time delays. They are unavoidable.
- Expect unforeseen things to delay and disrupt your process. I wasn’t prepared for my jars to become unavailable. Don’t spread yourself so thin that you cannot overcome a supply shortage or other roadblocks.
What has your business development process been like? Have you had similar experiences? Make sure to follow us on Instagram @roadtripcandlecompany and keep your eyes open for new blog posts.