Candle-making legacy passed from father to son

Kringle Candle Company, located in Bernardston, celebrates its first anniversary

By Mike Briotta PRIME Editor In the sleepy town of Bernardston, just a few exits north of Yankee Candle Company on I-91, there's an ongoing expansion at the home of new competitor Kringle Candle Company. A gleaming white building, opened about a year ago, stands out from the quiet rural landscape on an otherwise gloomy day. It seems as if the Kringle Candle showroom is itself aglow, beckoning visitors. A sign above the door encourages visitors to "See the Light!" through the bright white candles from the Kittredge family. It's another small western Massachusetts town, and the Kittredge family is once again at the helm of a candle-related daytrip destination. When the Kittredges first drove into Bernardston and saw the empty building, they realized it would be a perfect fit for their startup business. The grand opening of Kringle Candle took place last October, kicking off with three dozen candle fragrances. Michael Kittredge II, the 59-year-old father of the family, and his 21-year-old son Michael Kittredge III (who goes by "Mick") are collaborators in the new company. The father is formerly of Yankee Candle, which he founded, turned into a booming business, and later sold. Following an absence of about a decade from the business, he's now partnered with his son to form Kringle. The company makes a full line of candles including apothecary jars, pillar-shaped jars, and many other styles. The name Kringle Candle was arrived at carefully and with a great deal of forethought; the Kittredges didn't simply want to slap their surname on the business. Even though their name does have cachet in the candle industry, the father-son duo wanted something more evocative of the chilly season when most candles are used. "We Googled it, and searched up and down," said Michael Kittredge about the Kringle name. "It's one of the most widely known names in the world." On the plus side, that well-known name wasn't tied to anyone notable that they could find, except of course the mythical and beloved Kris Kringle himself. "When talking about the candle season, you're never going to get away from the holiday season," Michael said. "Every Kringle candle we make will also be used during the week of Christmas. It just takes a while to establish the brand." Across the road from their flagship store is a post-Colonial white building housing the Kittredges' new restaurant and tavern called The Farm Table. It seats about 135 people, including the terrace. An attached carriage house accommodates an additional 55 hungry patrons exactly the size of the average bus tour, according to a company spokesman. The Farm Table was set to open by the end of October. It is the epitome of "green" construction: re-harvested wood, stones and bricks from an old dairy barn, and a geothermal heating and cooling system with air supplied from deep wells. The new restaurant features what the Kittredges recognize as a "world class" chef. "He's cooked for royalty, presidents and the Rolling Stones," said Michael of chef Brent Menke. "He can cook whatever the situation calls for." In the case of The Farm Table, he's expected to cook up what's being called "New Age American" cuisine. The internationally nuanced entrees will be offered in a wide variety of price points. Other new developments this fall include the Kringle Christmas Barn, which will be open year-round. It features toys, candy, decorations and Christmas figurines. The site is a multi-story former dairy barn. Michael said it triples Kringle's retail square footage. "We let our imagination run wild," he said of the new holiday barn. "It will offer Christmas ornamentation, some of which is offered nowhere else in New England." Seeing the Light The first Yankee Candle building was a former mill building in Holyoke, which the company eventually outgrew. By the time the company left Holyoke, it occupied a 14,000 square foot space and employed 32 people. "The banks were asking me if I wanted to borrow money to build," Michael recalled. However, he wanted a more pastoral location for Yankee and opted to move the company to South Deerfield. "Everybody assumed I had lost my mind," he said. "They said, 'Nobody is ever going to find you up in the sticks.' But within a few years, we were the second largest tourist destination in Massachusetts." "I made a couple of mistakes," said the Yankee Candle founder. "That basic jar was not the perfect design, and it's stayed the same [for decades]. That's a long time for a product to stay in the exact same form." After 30 years, he sold his stake in Yankee to a private-equity firm in 1998 for an estimated $400 to $600 million. Still, he remained on the board of directors at Yankee until the early 2000's. Although it took a couple of years to unwind his position on the board, he said his decision to leave came on Sept. 11, 2001, due to the terrorist attacks on American soil. "I was in New York City on 9-11," Kittredge recounted. "I found that I wasn't that valuable as a board member, and [the attacks of 9-11] made me realize that there's more to life than sitting silently at a board meeting." So what was he to do? Kittredge decided to set out to see the world by a series of ocean voyages. He used some of those proceeds from Yankee Candle to build one of the world's largest custom-designed yachts and sailed around the world with his family. "I had a 200-foot steel yacht built," he said. "It gave me the opportunity to see the world on my own terms not have to pack, and wake up in a different city every day." The craft, which would be classified as a super yacht, was appropriately named "Paraffin." Something dawned upon him, though, as he cruised the world on his massive yacht for much of the last decade. He had left the multimillion-dollar candle business behind. He was more financially secure than most Americans could ever dream of. But he realized that seeing the world on his own terms was simply not enough of a legacy to leave for future generations. Michael wanted more. He wanted a 'do-over' on his candle empire. Many people have the dream of pushing the 'reset' button on life, and making better choices, but he also had the means to make it possible. He wanted to pass the family business onto his son. The father's considerable experience in the candle business has, of course, assisted in Kringle's formation. "I guess I have a lot of experience," he said. "To do this with your son is great, and to be able to do this all over again knowing [about the industry] what I know now how to do it right, and make sure everything is proven to our high standards."' Naturally, there's no discussing Kringle without the shadow of the 800-pound gorilla of the industry also in the room. Yankee Candle is the nation's largest maker of scented candles. Their candles appear in national retail chains including Kohl's and Target stores. Yankee is currently valued at more than $1 billion. It's big business overall scented candles account for almost $2 billion in sales for United States companies each year. It's a far cry from just homespun, rustic candle-making these days. One could argue that Kringle Candle is attempting to return to the family's simpler roots, with a focus on the basics. Michael said about Kringle's neighbors in the farming town of Bernardston, "I think they're very happy [with Kringle]. We've heard nothing but compliments. Once we opened, they saw that we're very benign and a good neighbor. It feels good for us; we've created well over 100 jobs in just the last year." Today, Kringle employs more than 120 workers and the company owns almost 200 acres of local property. "We never set out to compete with Yankee," Michael concluded. "They deal with Target and Wal-Mart. We just want to deal with small gift shops. We're just trying to make the best candles, and make even better ones tomorrow." His dreams for Kringle are lofty, but firmly grounded in experience and proven success. "The world hasn't yet seen a new heir apparent [to Yankee]," Kittredge said. "If we fulfill all our dreams here, that's possible." Passing the Torch Michael "Mick" Kittredge III is the scion of the Yankee Candle founder, and president of Kringle Candle. As the story goes, when Mick was just 8 years old, he was disappointed that his father had sold the South Deerfield business, because he wanted to run the company one day. Mick later discovered a love of candle-making business when taking a course at Greenfield Community College. The college offered extra credit in a marketing course for those students who made a tangible product by the end of the semester. So he set about doing what came naturally: making candles. Mick fired up his father's old stove and started melting wax. Before he knew it, his product was flying off the shelves at the local haberdashery Jackson & Connor, which had agreed to stock a small selection of them. When more than 200 candles were sold that holiday season, the young Kittredge knew his product was an instant hit. "We placed the candles in the store, and people kept coming up to the register with armfuls of six of them," Mick recalled. "Dad and I looked at each other and said, 'Maybe we should get back into the candle business.'" His father has helped mentor him throughout the startup of the fledgeling company. Mick made those early candles on the same stove that his father used to start the family empire. The stove itself has in interesting backstory: it was bartered for $80 worth of plumbing by a Kittredge family member at one point. For three years, it sat in a box in the plumber's possession before the family eventually bought it back (for much more than the original plumbing bill). Mick said that Kringle uses paraffin wax instead of soy-based was for a number of reasons. "Soy was a marketing campaign under the guise of being 'greener' but it does not burn any cleaner," Mick said. "It emits the same amount of hydrocarbons. Paraffin also throws fragrance better than soy wax, and it glows better. Soy can go rancid over time; paraffin doesn't. So it has a longer shelf life." The most striking visual aspect of Kringle's products, and a key selling point for the company, is the use of pure white wax. "White wax presented a unique selling proposition," said Tim O'Brien, who does marketing and sales for Kringle. "It fits with any decor. It's neutral, so it goes anywhere. When you dye a candle, it's like throwing sand into water at a microscopic level. White candles burn much cleaner and they throw white light, which glows beautifully. It's incandescent." Some of their other signature selling points are the footed glass container of their standard candle line, which is visually distinct from the classic jar of their large competitor in the area. Their "footed" container is reusable for myriad other purposes. "It's our signature look," O'Brien said of the design. "You can peel the label off and you've got something that's reusable." Other candle-holding vessels offered by Kringle are ramekins, most commonly known for serving creme brulee. Their new restaurant provides ample evidence of just how re-usable Kringle Candle jars can be, when applied in the right context. The same style of jars that hold candles in the showroom also serve double-duty as water glasses in the restaurant, contain romaine salads and hold some soups. Mick continued, "I took on the candle making science side of things. I wanted to create the best candle in the world." He also took on the charge of people who looked at colored candles and weren't thrilled with some of the clashing hues at home. "People would say they like the fragrance, but wanted something decor-neutral," Mick said. "They don't have to live with garish colors." As an analogy to the way light travels through Kringle's white candles, he said, "Think of the way light moves through milk versus water, where there's nothing to diffuse or block the light. Our candles are 100 times brighter because the entire cylinder glows. It's the best-performing, best-looking candle." Mick added about the appeal of Kringle candles compared to Yankee, "We're less expensive in a lot of cases. Kringle candles come in different sizes and have different qualities. We don't think there's a direct competitor." PRIME For more information about the Kringle Candle Company, please visit their Web site at: www.kringlecandle.com. Their showroom is located at 220 South Street in Bernardston (Route 5). Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, plus extended holiday hours. If dining at The Farm Table, reservations are recommended.