Candle Money

 

Customers are usually tickled when they notice our Candle Money box at the shop. There was a time when we provided candles indiscriminately with our cakes free of charge. The problem with this is that customers started requesting for more candles that they actually need. Sometimes a lot more. Simply because they come free. You be surprised at how many “10Big and 10Small’ candle requests we used to get. And we really doubt there are that many centenarian in Singapore. But as part of our initiatives to become a “greener” company, we made the decision to limit the number of complimentary candles based on cake size. Any additional candle required will be charged at 10cents/candle, which will go into our Candle Money box as donation to AWRC (ACRES Wildlife Rescue Centre). The initiative was met with displeasure from a small section of customers when it was first implemented in 2019. We were accused of being petty, profiteering etc. etc. But being the principled (aka thick-skinned) entity that we are, we will not waver once we have set our minds on something. This is especially when we feel that the something is justified.

Most customers understand our rationale and are happy with the number of candles provided. Others are more than willing to "purchase" additional candles by making the donation. And we have also seen our fair share of customers putting $10 notes into our donation box just for 1 or 2 extra candles. To these customers, we like to say a big "thank you" for supporting our cause.

To better understand the impact of our new candle policy, we gave out an estimated 150,000 candles each year prior to 2019. Post 2019, the number of candles given out has reduced 70,000 – 80,000 per year. We like to believe that our small effort will have some positive impact on our environment, even if it is just a tiny bit.