Carron-based candle business that started as a side hustle proving an international success

Duncan and Cheryl Maclean founded Candle Shack in 2010, and it has since grown from a side hustle to become one of the UK’s candle making giants, acting as one-stop shop for aspiring candle entrepreneurs, supporting them with education, technology, and materials.

The firm, based in Carron, works with close to 10,000 customers including major international brands such as Paul Smith, Floral St, and Overose.

The 86-employee outfit also opened a European HQ in the Netherlands last year, which supplies booming emerging markets on the continent responsible for more than 40 per cent of Candle Shack’s online revenue this year.

The Macleans were based near London during Duncan’s 20-year army career, where Cheryl, who ran her own beauty salon by day, started a candle making business in her spare time as her husband spent extended periods on operational tours.

The sliding doors moment came in 2010 at an unlikely location – a service station off the M4. With Cheryl’s burgeoning candle business showing major potential, the Macleans had a decision to make.

Duncan said: “I’d reached an age and stage where I was looking to leave the forces, and came up with the concept for what would become Candle Shack while studying for an MBA.

“While her salon was doing well, Cheryl’s candle business was really catching fire, so we had to decide whether or not to press the button. It certainly wasn't the most glamorous of locations for launching a lifestyle brand, but that service station is where we decided to go ‘all in’ and Candle Shack was born.”

In almost 14 years since Candle Shack was founded, the candle making market has exploded in the UK – particularly during and immediately following the Covid-19 lockdowns – and Duncan and Cheryl, a former president of the British Candlemakers Federation, have been at the sharp end of it.

Turnover is on target to break the £15m barrier this year, and the couple’s ambition for the firm is still burning brightly – with sights set on £50m within six years driven principally by growth on the continent. The immediate aim is to double its existing count of 9600 core customers within the next three years.

Cheryl added: “By 2030, we believe Candle Shack will achieve more than £50m in revenue, predominantly from European operations. We are focused on growing our core customers, serious crafters who are running a business, and there is massive appetite for that on the continent.

“Germany has shown us what’s possible in Europe. It’s been a runaway success, growing by 400 per cent in the last year. We’re a mature company going into an emerging market and we will roll out a bespoke strategy country-by-country – we’ve quickly learned that Europe isn’t a single nation. It’s an exciting prospect.”

For more information on Candle Shack, visit candle-shack.co.uk.