Burning Bright: How a Sarasota Candle Business Sparked Success

Bia Candle Company of Sarasota County

Founded in 2019, Bia Candle Company, a Sarasota-based candle company has quickly risen from a startup idea to a thriving manufacturer and retailer with partnerships across Florida. The business, which specializes in high-quality, clean-burning scented candles, was born out of the founder, Bia Antunes’ passion as a candle aficionado and frustration with the inconsistent quality on the market.

“I realized that even though the market was saturated with candles, there were very few that offered safe, clean ingredients at an accessible price,” Antunes said. “I set out to create candles made with high-quality wax, safe scents, and wicks that burn cleanly without smoke or soot,” the owner explained.

Since its launch, the company has developed strong retail and wholesale relationships, including with Whole Foods Market and Chase Bank, while also selling directly to consumers online. As with many manufacturers, managing cash flow was an early challenge. That’s when the business turned to the Florida SBDC at USF.

“My consultant Scott from the Florida SBDC at USF has helped me tremendously. He has extensive experience in business, from marketing to finance. He’s always willing to sit down with me and go over all these crucial business tools that, you know, as a new business owner, I’m constantly learning. I don’t have an MBA, I didn’t graduate from my college ready to start a business,” Antunes said.

Business consultant Scott Carpenter provided guidance on marketing, financing, and securing capital. “Funding is a really hard part of business and I’m self-funded,” Antunes said. “Scott helped me get a loan with the SBA, which helps a lot because especially with manufacturing, you’re buying materials and you’re making product, and then you have to go to market to sell that product. So, you have that time lapse where your money is tied up in product and it takes a while to get that money back,” she added.

The business owner goes on to say that one of her biggest successes was actually lighting the flame and bringing her idea to life. “I would say my biggest success so far was initially starting my business. Having the courage to do it. I create a product which I had to learn how to make. I thought it was going to be a lot easier to make a quality candle than it actually is,” she said.

Now, with sales growing and partnerships expanding throughout Florida, the company continues to thrive, crediting much of its success to its loyal customer base. “One thing that really makes me proud and keeps me going every day is getting great reviews from people online that buy our candles and buy them again and again and write wonderful reviews, sometimes even personal emails saying these are the best candles they’ve ever had. They love all our scents. They love how they burn. All that positive reinforcement is a success. It warms my heart and keeps me going because every day there’s a challenge with business,” Antunes said with a smile.

Antunes didn’t fail to mention how the Florida SBDC at USF has helped in providing not only resources but also the confidence to scale sustainably. “So, in the future I hope to use the Florida SBDC at USF to advance my business even more,” she said. “I hope to work with Scott more extensively, where he can help me up the game a little bit more and increase my revenues and help me keep costs lower and also with ideas, right? Because he’s in the market. He’s helping a lot of other businesses, he knows what’s going on, so he can always give me advice as to which direction I should take and making decisions for my business,” she added.

As for her fellow small business owner, Antunes offer this piece of advice: “I would suggest that everyone that starts a new business, you know, try to have access to all these tools that are offered by the SBA, by the SBDC, by the U.S. government. There are a lot of tools out there and sometimes they feel like they’re out of reach just because you don’t know where they are or how to get to them,” she said. “Working locally with your chamber or with universities or trying to find the local [SBDC] office, through the SBA or directly, you can find very helpful people and tools and executives that wanna help you,” she concluded.