A candle business plan sets out what you'll pour, who will buy it at what price, how you'll make and sell it, and the first year month by month. What sets candles apart in a plan is the calendar: candles are a gift, so a large share of the year's sales lands in November and December, with smaller peaks around Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, and the wax, jars and hours for the holidays have to be paid for in September and October. In the example below, a candle maker starts in March, sells 400 candles in November and 480 in December, makes a profit every month, and ends the year about $18,800 ahead on top of paying for the pouring, with 38% of the year's sales in the last two months of the year. Below is a description example, each part of the plan, the projection, the holiday cash, and a free template.
The short version
- Describe the business in a paragraph: the candles, the customers, the workspace, the goals.
- Cost a candle: wax, fragrance, wick, vessel, label, and your pouring time.
- Price for selling direct and for wholesale; wholesale is half the direct price.
- Plan the calendar: November and December carry the year, and their stock is bought in autumn.
- Start in spring, so the holiday stock is paid for by the months before it.
- Burn-test every scent before it goes on sale, and put a warning label on every candle.
- TaroStack costs every pour from what you paid, and shows jars and wax in days of cover before the rush. More below.
Part 1: the business description
Lehua Glow, a made-up candle maker I use in these examples, is starting out. Its description reads:
Lehua Glow hand-pours soy candles scented with island fragrances in a home studio on Oʻahu, in 9 oz amber jars and 4 oz travel tins. We sell at two Saturday markets and online, and wholesale to gift shops and boutiques. Every scent is burn-tested before sale, and every candle carries its pour date and burn instructions. In the first year we plan to sell 400 candles in November and 30 shops by year end.
Part 2: what a candle costs
The costs come from how to price homemade candles, where a jar is worked out ingredient by ingredient. For the plan, overhead moves to the monthly costs:
| Per candle | 9 oz jar | 4 oz tin |
|---|---|---|
| Wax, fragrance, wick, vessel and label | $3.99 | $2.05 |
| Pouring, trimming and labeling | $1.67 | $0.83 |
| Variable cost, wholesale | $5.66 | $2.88 |
| Card fee on a direct sale, 3% | $0.78 | $0.45 |
| Variable cost, direct | $6.44 | $3.33 |
Part 3: customers and prices
| Candle and channel | Price | Variable cost | Contribution | Candles a month at full speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 oz jar, direct | $26.00 | $6.44 | $19.56 | 120 |
| 9 oz jar, wholesale | $13.00 | $5.66 | $7.34 | 160 |
| 4 oz tin, direct | $15.00 | $3.33 | $11.67 | 80 |
| 4 oz tin, wholesale | $7.50 | $2.88 | $4.62 | 40 |
"Full speed" here is November: 400 candles. A direct jar leaves $19.56 and a wholesale jar $7.34, so markets and the website carry the profit, and shops carry the reach. What a month looks like in hours, and what each hour earns, is in how much does a candle business make.
Part 4: operations
| Area | In the plan |
|---|---|
| Workspace | A home studio: pouring table, ventilation, storage away from heat |
| Recipes | Wax, fragrance load and wick for each vessel, written down and burn-tested |
| Testing | Every new scent and wick burned through before it's sold |
| Labels | Scent, net weight, your name, burn instructions and a warning label |
| Lots | A pour date or batch code on every candle, so a problem traces to its pour |
| Stock | Jars and wax ordered ahead of the holidays; glass can take weeks |
How to keep supplies and finished candles in one sheet is in candle business inventory spreadsheet.
Part 5: the first year, month by month
The year starts in March, with $675 of fixed costs a month: market booths, insurance, the website, test candles and packing supplies, marketing and photos, software and card fees. Sales follow the gift calendar, reaching 100% in November and 120% in December:
| Month | Jars | Tins | Sales | Profit | Cash, year to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | 56 | 24 | $1,340 | $253 | $253 |
| April | 70 | 30 | $1,675 | $485 | $738 |
| May | 112 | 48 | $2,680 | $1,181 | $1,919 |
| June | 84 | 36 | $2,010 | $717 | $2,636 |
| July | 84 | 36 | $2,010 | $717 | $3,353 |
| August | 98 | 42 | $2,345 | $949 | $4,302 |
| September | 126 | 54 | $3,015 | $1,413 | $5,715 |
| October | 168 | 72 | $4,020 | $2,109 | $7,824 |
| November | 280 | 120 | $6,700 | $3,965 | $11,789 |
| December | 336 | 144 | $8,040 | $4,893 | $16,682 |
| January | 84 | 36 | $2,010 | $717 | $17,399 |
| February | 126 | 54 | $3,015 | $1,413 | $18,812 |
November and December bring in $14,740 of the year's $38,860, or 38%. The profit line is on top of paying for the pouring at $20 an hour, but not for market days, packing and posting, which are the owner's time.
Part 6: the holiday cash
The projection counts a candle's cost in the month it sells. The materials don't wait: the 400 candles for November and 480 for December need about $3,000 of wax, fragrance, jars and tins, bought in September and October, and the shops' holiday orders often arrive in those months too. In this plan, the spring and summer profits of $5,715 by September carry that with room to spare. A candle business that starts in September has no such cushion, and buys its first holiday stock with startup money. That's the case for starting in spring, and for ordering glass early: how long a supplier really takes to deliver is in lead time calculation formula.
Part 7: the startup budget
| Item | Example |
|---|---|
| Wax, fragrance, wicks and jars for the first 300 candles | $1,000 |
| Pouring pitchers, scale, thermometer, heat gun | $250 |
| Burn tests for each scent | $200 |
| Label design, with the warning label | $300 |
| Shipping boxes and packing | $250 |
| Business license | $100 |
| Website and product photos | $500 |
| Market tent, table and display | $400 |
| Working cash | $1,500 |
| Total to start | $4,500 |
What a market stall costs over a season is in cost to sell at a farmers market.
Get the template
Download the candle business plan template. Type your candles with their price, variable cost and monthly volume at full speed, your fixed costs and startup budget, and the share of full speed for each month; it works out each month's sales, profit and cash, the first month with a profit and the lowest cash point. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The plan has two candles. The shelf has fourteen scents in two sizes, poured in batches of 24, with fragrance oils bought in different bottles at different prices, and in October the question isn't the year's profit, it's whether there are enough amber jars for the Plumeria pour on Thursday, and which scents to pour more of before the shops reorder. A spreadsheet of last year's totals can't say which scent sold out in December and which is still on the shelf in March.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack costs every pour, keeps every scent's stock current, and shows what will run out before the rush.
Every pour, costed. Each candle is a recipe: wax, fragrance, wick, vessel and label, with units converted, so wax bought by the 50 lb case is used by the ounce. Recording a pour takes them off stock at what you paid and divides by the candles that came out good. A curing batch can sit on hold until it's ready, and every candle's lot carries its pour date.
Supplies in days of cover. The reorder list shows jars, wax and fragrance in days of cover, against each supplier's real lead time and minimum, so the glass order for November goes in while there's time. Reorder points are suggested from how stock actually moves.
And the season, seen. Margins are reported by product and by customer, so the scents that sell and the shops that pay show up, and stock that isn't moving shows how long since it last went out. On Standard, planning fills forecasts from your own sales history, so next November's pours start from this November's numbers.
| The question | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| What does a jar cost now? | Worked out once | Every pour, at what you paid |
| Enough jars for October? | Count the boxes | Days of cover, against lead time |
| Which scents sell? | A feeling | Margins by product |
| How much to pour for November? | Last year's guess | Forecasts from your history, on Standard |
Recipes, batches, lots, holds and the reorder list are on every plan, from $49 a month; planning, with forecasts, is on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.