The Elemental Rise of Bianchi Candle Brands
While his peers were planning their next college party or study group, Nic Bianchi was navigating a vital crossroad that would either fan the flame of his growing candle company—or snuff it out. Bianchi launched Bianchi Candle Company as a 12-year-old in his parents’ basement, and he had grown the young business into what most would consider a wildfire success, especially for a student who negotiated time out of high school to build the company.
But what Bianchi realized at age 18 wasn’t about the product, it was about people. “I had created something I no longer wanted to be part of,” he admitted. “The back end of the business was chaotic, outdated, and misaligned. Culture didn’t exist. Communication broke down. Vision got blurry. Some team members loved the idea of being part of something bold and fast-growing but weren’t prepared to match that ambition with execution.”
So, he made the toughest leadership call of his life: torch the structure, cut the team, and rebuild from ground zero. What emerged was a sharper company with stronger foundations, grounded in a new set of internal agreements—values like “move as one,” “own your role,” “solve, don’t spiral,” and “family over ego.” Instead, Bianchi went to school by learning hard-knocks lessons in the wild, soaking up all the business knowledge he could from an MBA-level pipeline entrepreneurship program, advisory boards with titans of the industry, a new board of directors, and investment groups. That reset wasn’t cosmetic; it was cultural. And it transformed the business.
Remember, this is an 18-year-old with aspirations to “light the way to a cleaner world” and outpace the world’s biggest candle makers in the process. Reaching that rare air would require bold moves, such as revamping the business model to move from an online shop during the COVID-19 pandemic to distribution in a burgeoning number of major retailers nationwide such as Von Maur, Hy-Vee, Ace Hardware, and scores of regional boutiques.
He established new infrastructure, facilities, staffing, and financing to propel the company into the future. And he doubled down on manufacturing all-natural soy candles in bulk at a competitive price point—something industry advisors told him couldn’t be done. “At that point in time, I’m a kid trying to go up against places like Yankee Candle, saying ‘We can do it!’ I was just completely naïve,” said Bianchi, who saw 95% of the company’s revenue disappear during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. “We were told it’s impossible, and we showed them it’s possible, which is really cool. I was still riding the biggest wave of my life, but we were truly learning as we were going to the fullest extent.”
While executing their mega-growth plan, Bianchi’s facility footprint expanded from a 700 square-foot basement in a remodeled Papillion church to 50,000 square feet of space in several Omaha buildings. By year’s end, Bianchi will absorb 210,000 square feet of building space in south-central Omaha. The company has moved from two full-time employees who hand-poured about 1,000 candles per month to a staff of 137 employees who crank out 122,000 units per day—with capabilities expanding in the next few months to produce 230,000 units per day.
The company markets four candle brands—Bianchi Candle Company, Yes You Candle, Market Street, and Modena Candles—along with a contract manufacturing company that will put Bianchi’s all-natural, recyclable candles in 30,000 storefronts nationwide. Growth of 1,000% last year is making way for projections of 50 times that number in 2025. And Bianchi’s products will share nearly every shelf with household names in the industry. “That will be a cool sight to see,” Bianchi said of the company’s competitive footprint.
But as the 22-year-old reflects on where Bianchi Candle Brands has been and looks ahead to its white-hot future, he is most proud of the company’s strong family culture. Since that fateful day when the culture reset began, Bianchi hasn’t had a single firing or lost one staff member to another job. He’s also breaking the mold for how people feel about coming to work. “We’re not building a candle company, we’re building a place where people want to show up, every single day.
“With everything we touch, we have really pushed that we want this to be a brighter, cleaner, happier world,” Bianchi noted. “One thing that always upsets me is when I interview people and ask them why they’re leaving, and they say ‘I’m tired of corporate America.’ That breaks my heart because corporate America should be something that’s great; it should be awesome. It should be a family. I love it when I walk in and see a really small office of 28 people all crammed into it, and they’re sitting there laughing, having fun and still getting crazy amounts of work done and truly enjoying it. They genuinely want to be here as much as they can. That’s the culture I wanted to build, knowing that everybody loves it here as much as I do.”
Bianchi has lived this flicker-to-flamethrower story, but even he has a hard time believing it’s real when he thinks back on the company logo he drew at 7 years old, his first candle-making kit at 12, and paying off his first $3,000 equipment investment as a freshman in high school. “It’s still very unbelievable, very surreal,” Bianchi said. “But the cool thing is, I live it every day and I love being part of it. The passion is still there for the candles. But my focus is shifting to make sure the business partnerships we build are true and deep-rooted. Those partners are the ones always reminding us, ‘Look at where we were, and look at where we are now.’ Since we get that constant reminder, it makes it so inspiring. We’re always joking that it’s relighting the flame, and almost every single day you wake up re-inspired. I didn’t know this was my dream when I started, but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
