Here's How P.F. Candle Co. Grew from a One-Woman Etsy Shop to a Home Fragrance Empire

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Shop Small is a monthly series highlighting small business owners from diverse backgrounds. This series aims to go deeper than your typical product roundup, diving into the inspirational stories behind some of our favorite brands. By taking a behind-the-scenes look at how their shops came to be and highlighting the products they (and their shoppers!) love, we hope to put a deserving spotlight on these marginalized business owners.

Sometimes a challenging life experience can lead to a successful business venture— just ask Kristen Pumphrey, co-founder of P.F. Candle Co.

When Kristen was laid off from her publishing job during the 2008 recession, she moved from New York to Texas and started a DIY blog called Pommes Frites, a play on her last name. It quickly became an outlet to share her passion for the world of crafting, from candle-making to crocheting and knitting. The early days called for being resourceful, to say the least. "The restaurant I worked at would throw away these amber-colored candle jars, so I would take them home, melt the old wax out and pour it into there," Kristen says. Soon, the candles became the blog's best-selling product and the foundation for her business (she shortened Pommes Frites to P.F.). In 2013, her partner, Tom Neuberger, became co-owner.

After a decade of growth, including orders from Urban Outfitters, CB2 and Madewell, the fragrance company now has two brick-and-mortar stores in California, selling a range of home and body products, from scented candles and incense to car fragrances, reed diffusers, room sprays, and hand and body wash.

To give you an inside look at P.F. Candle Co., we checked in with Kristen and Tom to learn more about their journey as entrepreneurs and how they continue to grow the business. Read on below:

What steps did you take to scale the brand?

Kristen: "For about five years, it was just me. Then we hired Tom as the co-owner. One of the first steps we took after our first big order was reinvesting into the business rather than taking the profit early on. We bought machinery and hired people."

Tom: "It was a lot of saying yes and making it work. If there was an opportunity in front of us, we didn't have the luxury to say no to it. As we got bigger, we have been more privileged to not have to do that.

How does sustainability come into play with your products?

Tom: "The most important part of our sustainability program is our carbon pollution output. We work with an organization called Climate Neutral that measures the amount of CO2 we're emitting into the environment through our business operations. Then, we offset what we're currently doing and make three new strategies every year to help reduce that carbon output to zero. We've been able to offset our energy use with green energy supplies. However, the most challenging thing we're working on now is using less packaging."

Kristen: "We don't sell our candles in boxes; they just come bulk-packed. But many people really want that box because of the elevated feel. So, it's a bit of standing behind our values and just saying it's better for our footprint not to have that many boxes. We'll use it if there's a functionality required."

What are P.F. Candle Co.'s popular candle scents for the fall and winter months?

Kristen: "We have an incredible Spiced Pumpkin candle and Spruce candle that smells like a Christmas tree. I'm also really into earthy, grounding scents like sandalwood, cedar, as well as our Teakwood & Tobacco. Fall is a time when you're practicing gratitude, turning your energy inward and starting to conserve that energy to get ready for winter. These grounding scents can help create that type of energy.

What year-round scents do you recommend?

Kristen: "I'm burning our Wild Herb Tonic all the time. I have it as a diffuser as well. To me, it's like a luxury spa scent. I also love our Piñon incense because it reminds me of being in New Mexico and that feeling of the Pinion logs burning.

Tom: "I like Teakwood & Tobacco and the Enoki Cedar from our new Alchemy line."

What's it like working together as husband and wife while caring for your daughter?

Tom: "We get along very well; we try to separate work and home. There are a lot of crossover skills that allow us to, hopefully, be better business owners and managers because we can be empathetic like we are with our child. That's the DNA of the company. We work very hard, but we're always having a lot of fun because we sell candles. There's no such thing as a candle emergency. We're just here to improve people's lives through fragrance."

Kristen: "It's nice to make your own schedule. If I need to leave a little early for a meeting or pick my daughter up for practice, I can be flexible with my time. We try to maintain open communication and talk with her all the time."

Enoki Cedar Soy Candle

Golden Hour Hand & Body Wash

Myrtle Mint Incense Cones

Sandalwood Rose Room & Linen Spray

Ojai Lavender Soy Candle

Teakwood & Tobacco Car Fragrance

What's next for P.F. Candle Co.?

Kristen: "We're really loving our connection with our stores, so we want to open more. Going a little bit more direct-to-consumer feels exciting for us, because we're split about 50/50 right now in terms of wholesale partners, e-commerce and retail shops. We get the best customers at our stores, and they make such a connection with our team. They get to hear the coolest stories. Plus, it's just a really wonderful way to keep us all connected to how fragrance impacts people's lives."

Tom: "We're hoping to weave our environmentalism into our newest products. We also want to find out what people are ignoring about home fragrances and see how we can bring a new contemporary spin to it."

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