Our Brand Story

Hi there! My name is Caitlin, and I'm the proud owner and founder of Candeo Candle. People often ask me how we got started making candles and why, so I thought I'd share our story with you.

Back in 2006, I was a stay-at-home mom to my oldest son Corbin who was only a young tot at the time. I'm a creative person by nature and was looking for a way to make some extra money for my family while still being able to nurture my creative side. As a candle lover, I decided to try making my own candles, and I found that I really enjoyed playing around with different types of wax and mixing my own scents. When my friends and family tried them and loved them, they encouraged me to sell them. I signed up for my first craft fair, not knowing what I was getting myself into, and jumped right in.

In 2007 I registered Candeo Candle Factory, LLC as a real business, and I started selling at craft fairs and bazaars. I was a fast learner, but soon found that most of these markets weren't quite the right fit for me as most of the other vendors were selling mass-produced products. 

In 2009, I was invited to do a farmers market event at the local baseball stadium, and we sold out! That's when I realized that farmers markets could work for us. We sold our candles every weekend, and it was hard work, but I loved it. However, it was exhausting to juggle farmers markets, filling online orders, making more candles for the next weekend, and still being a full time mom taking care of my two boys at home.

In 2012, we tried selling on Amazon on a whim, and it took us a while to gain momentum. But eventually, our Campfire Smoke candle became a big hit, and we started gaining traction. We came to a point where we had to choose between doing farmers markets or selling on Amazon, and we chose Amazon because it had more growth potential. Our sales continued to grow, and between Amazon, local wholesale account, Etsy, and our website, we were doing quite well.

When Covid hit in 2020, we were concerned not only about the state of our world and what was happening to the people in it, but also about what was going to happen economically. We were surprised and shocked when our online sales exploded. We hadn't considered that lockdowns would cause so many people to resort to ordering online.

Our growth since than has enabled us to move closer to family in Idaho and set up our home workshop here in Lewiston. I feel incredibly fortunate to work with my two amazing teenaged sons, who help me out 3 days a week during the school year and almost full-time in the summer.

They've both taken an interest in the business, and I'm excited to see what they do with it this year. My oldest son is taking a class in social media marketing, and my middle son has taken an interest in Photoshop and Illustrator, so they're planning on helping out with our social media presence and photo editing. There's even talk of a YouTube channel. We're truly are a small family-run business, but we have big plans for the coming year!

At Candeo Candle, we're passionate about making high-quality candles that are both beautiful and sustainable. We believe that a candle can bring warmth, comfort, and joy into any space, and can help to bring families together by adding that special scent that will help you create memories to last a lifetime. My sons comment all the time that scents we make remind them of certain times of the year because of the memories they've made with those scents lingering in the background. For my oldest, Pumpkin Spice Latte IS fall!

From our family to yours, thank you for being a part of our story, and we look forward to sharing more of our journey with you!

Pictures Coming Soon!