From Humble Beginnings Come Great Adventures
I absolutely love the month of November for many reasons. Of course, it goes without saying that Thanksgiving is truly one of the best holidays of the year. It also marks the month that I met my wife Tracy, the birthday of my son, but it now marks the official month when we started Essential Candy - November 8th, 2018.
It is hard to believe that when my wife Tracy was inspired to find a way to help a dear friend going through chemotherapy, it would start this purpose-driven journey of helping others. Our healthy candies have truly helped so many people over this past year, and we are blessed to have given away countless bags to those battling cancer and the side effects of its treatments.
This past year has seen substantial growth for Essential Candy and nothing is more evident than when it comes to our packaging and the candies themselves.
Generation One - Welcome To Essential Candy
Our packaging began with a very simple bag with individual flavors of Lemon, Lime and Spearmint hard candies. We also included a positive message as a reminder to look at things with love and kindness.
Generation Two - The Start of Essential Candy Signature Blends
We soon realized that we cannot combine different flavors of our essential oil healthy candies into one bag, especially if they are not individually wrapped. By accident, this was the birth of our now Signature Blends.
Generation Three - New Bags and New Look
With our third generation packaging, we changed the shape of the hard candies and also had a better sized and labeled bag. We then started to insert the positive message, our version of the Fortune Cookie message.
We also started using icons on the front of the bags to identify the various blends. Also, the variety bag was reintroduced but unfortunately the various essential oil smells began to blend into each other and created their own unique flavor, not so appetizing!
Generation Four - Better Labeling and New Hard Candy Shape
Through various market testing and feedback from our visits to local cancer support groups, where we donated our bags of healthy candies, we finally had a product that resonated with the public.
Generation Five - Dealing With Florida Humidity
Yes with being here in Florida the summers can be very humid. Who knew that hard candies can sweat? We found out quickly and with some additional trial and errors, our most recent packaging included a smell and vapor-barrier. We also relabeled with an updated Nutrition Facts label since we reduced our sugar levels.
Generation Six - Ready For Retail
Only one full year into business and 6 generations of packaging later, we are gearing up for our next adventure of moving into Retail locations for 2020.
Thank you to everyone for your support and all our #TeamEssential fans. We are truly blessed to be helping people dealing with various health issues. Never take your health for granted and if we can help even one person feel better naturally with our healthy candies, we know we are on the right path. I can't wait to see what 2020 will bring. One thing is for certain, Essential Candy will always give back by Giving Hope.