‘Illinois Maker’ Bee Coco aims to be the GOAT of nontoxic, hand-poured candles

After losing their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, Noreen and Eric Francis decided to enact Noreen’s retirement plan.

“I always said, for the past 30 years, once I retire I want to open up a candle shop and make goat’s milk soap,” Noreen Francis said. “He said, ‘You can do the candles, but we’re not getting a goat.’”

Since starting out of their home in 2021 before opening a store in a circa-1868 Geneva building in June 2024, Bee Coco Candle has focused on making the cleanest-burning, healthiest candles available.

The Illinois Office of Tourism heard the buzz.

In May, Bee Coco joined 20 small businesses welcomed into the Illinois Made program reflecting the state’s craftsmanship and culture. Launched in 2016 by the Illinois Office of Tourism, Bee Coco is among 277 Makers statewide.

This fall the Francises were awarded their own pastel-colored, Illinois Made commemorative plate, which hangs on a wall toward the front of the shop at 308 W. State St.

“It means a lot,” Noreen Francis said, “because I want to get as much information out as possible that there are nontoxic, affordable options out there for people, which is my biggest goal, is to get toxins out of people’s homes and to just have a healthier environment.”

She has four different autoimmune conditions and could suffer from headaches, nosebleeds or asthmalike symptoms when burning many store-bought candles, which may include chemicals, gluten, preservatives and other reactionary substances.

As for Eric Francis, “I originally hated candles,” he said.

“I would blow them out immediately because they would always give me headaches,” Eric Francis said. “With her autoimmune issues, we needed to come up with something that’s good for people and safe for pets because we have pets. So that’s what everything we do is founded on.”

Through much research, testing and trial-and-error with wax, wicks, fragrances and glass vessels, the Bartlett couple has landed on a blend of coconut oil and apricot kernel oil, a byproduct of apricot canning.

Creating their hand-poured, soy-free candles in the back of the store, the unscented wax is then combined with one or more of the 70 fragrances Eric Francis “plays with,” though about 30 different scents are represented on the sales floor.

They range from conventional fragrances to creatively imagined finds such as “Lost in the Pages,” re-creating the smell of opening an old book, its title inspired by a lyric in a song by the rock band Audioslave.

“They fill the space,” Noreen Francis said of the aromas, “but it’s not overpowering.”

Each of the roughly 3,300 candles Bee Coco has sold in 2025 have one thing in common.

“Everything that we are using is as clean and sustainable as possible,” said Eric Francis, also a victim of COVID-era job loss.

In his fragrance lab at the rear of the store, “mixologist” Eric Francis reflects on what being an Illinois Maker means to him.

“I’ve always liked making things,” he said. “And to have the state recognize that we’re actually taking the steps to make something that’s of quality and ethically produced, and that we give back to the community and support other small businesses, and to recognize all of that, that was awesome.”

Bee Coco Candle sells conventional candles in glass vessels, car diffusers, lip and hand balms, wax melts and warmers, eau de toilette spray, and wickless candle warmers.

The company has “Spiritual Charity Candles” with $5 from each purchase donated to St. Peter Catholic Church in Geneva.

Helping fellow entrepreneurs who had their own troubles during COVID, Bee Coco stocks coffee beans from Drip Drop Roastery in Geneva and handmade soaps by The Noble Soapery in Bartlett. Hard-to-make beeswax candles come in from Bluecorn in Colorado.

Bee Coco also offers a “Scent Studio Experience” where customers may choose from a selection of scents to make their own reed diffuser fragrance.

People may bring their used vessels in for recycling — those purchased from Bee Coco and from other stores.

“Everything that we do, love is poured into it, and we want to make sure it’s affordable to everyone,” Noreen Francis said. “A lot of people come in and they’re like, ‘You should be charging more.’ And it’s like, ‘No, no, we shouldn’t.’ I want anybody to come in and be able to afford stuff.

“It’s for everyone, but in my heart, it’s for people with autoimmune issues. Because there’s so many people with autoimmune issues who can’t burn candles,” she said.