How Kringle Candles Came to Be




Kringle Candles was started by Mike Kittredge III, son of the founder of Yankee Candles.

When his father, Mike Kittredge, was just 16 years old he made a candle using his old childhood crayons for his mother’s Christmas present. Within a year, the antique Queen Anne stove you see here had become the heart of a tiny but fast-growing business called the Yankee Candle Company. By following his inspiration and always stressing quality, Mike made Yankee the candle industry standard which reshaped the modern giftware landscape. Mike sold Yankee Candle in 1998, and retired from the world of wax and wicks – or so he thought.

In 2008, Mike III made his first candle on this same old stove purely for fun; he had just turned nineteen. So when his 2009 college course required that he create and promote a product, his choice was natural: candles. As he worked on the project he felt a great sense of heritage and fulfillment, and an idea that wouldn’t go away formed in the back of his mind.

Mike III discussed expanding the academic assignment into a real business with his father. They spent several days considering what it would be like for both of them if Mike III followed in his father's footsteps. There was a growing excitement as they both realized they wanted to explore the concept further.

So, not long before Christmas 2009, the Kringle Candle Company was born. And our new home is less than twenty miles from Yankee Candle, on the very same state highway.

Factory Workers hand pouring the ultra-fragrant Kringle Candle line unites the best of the traditional and the new with exciting candle products designed to mesh with virtually any decor. We’ve worked hand-in-hand with the industry’s finest perfumers to select an array of robust, realistic candle fragrances. The all-white concept not only blends perfectly into all backdrops, it emits the purest, brightest light possible.

Father & Son are still working together to create a new kind of candle business focusing on exceptional product quality and outstanding customer service, plain and simple. We pledge to you that we’ll remain wholly American-owned and operated, never straying from our singular mission of making only superior, honest candles that you’ll want to have in your home.

We’re very proud of our candles, and I think you will be pleased with them too.

Mike Kittredge III