We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ian Childs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian, thanks for joining us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

I love this question because the journey of my business has been such a rollercoaster. I originally started as a catering business named Smack Shack! I was living in Fargo at the time working on political campaigns. I felt there was a huge gap in the food offerings, so I wanted to fill that gap myself! Essentially what we did was make ice cream, brunch and late night foods, such as burgers, Mac & Cheese bowls, tots, etc. But then, due to the legality of another business having the same name, we had to take a step back and get back to the drawing board.

Then, we became Sugar Hill. Sugar Hill is named after my grandmother’s house, the place where my mom and uncles grew up and where she shared her delicious recipes. After maintaining this business, growing it, and serving food for people that was inspired by my southern roots, I started to read more into the cannabis industry and see the possibilities of combining what I was doing into something unique with cannabis. And that’s how Space Shack was born!

Space Shack is a THC-Infused food company, with a mission to support creatives and elevate others into becoming profitable off their passions. It is a combination of all the things I love. I’m so excited to see it take off and be part of a growing community of creatives and entrepreneurs.

If I had started my business sooner, I would have learned a lot of lessons about catering and business earlier. But any later and I’d risk being late to the party (i.e. Minnesota’s recreational cannabis industry)! Honestly I’m really grateful for my journey! All of the mistakes, setbacks, and adjustments have put me in a great position to successfully enter the food and cannabis markets in Minnesota at the perfect time. I wouldn’t change my timeline at all.

Ian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hey everyone my name is Ian! I make music, food, and THC edibles. Growing up, I was always interested in cooking, and my mom will tell you how she had to cook with one arm because I just HAD to be in the other!! As I got older, I took on more responsibility in the kitchen and eventually I could cook anything I wanted to eat.

My mom is a big inspiration for me and who I am today. She taught us how to sing by harmonizing to the radio in busy Charlotte traffic, on our way to pick up my dad from work. I joined chorus in school, and I had a band in college that I performed with for a time as well. I always knew that I wanted to sing and record music, but it wasn’t until I moved to Fargo that I had the means to make that happen.

Fargo was really what jumpstarted my careers. I worked on political campaigns, I started my music journey, and opened a catering business while I lived there. Once Minnesota legalized recreational cannabis, I saw an opportunity to do something I hadn’t seen before- combine gourmet foods with cannabis. So far it has been an amazing experience, and I truly believe I’ve been able to open the eyes of others to the limitless possibilities this brings.

I’ve made THC infused pizzas, buffalo chicken dip, cookies, cheesecake, and of course our specialty, ice cream! We’ve made over 2 dozen ice cream and sorbet flavors, including custom flavors for creatives to support album releases, concerts, and festivals. If you’re an artist in Minnesota or are planning to host an event or concert here, we would love to create a custom menu of accurately-dosed THC edibles to elevate the experience you want to create, without your guests needing to sneak out in the cold for a smoke break.

Space Shack was created to help creatives and entrepreneurs in the new gig economy. People want to reclaim their time without having to sacrifice their passions for money. 51% of millennials smoke weed, and our goal is to empower the creative cannabis connoisseur by helping them access the cannabis economy they’re already a part of! If you want to join the movement or try some of our edibles, hit us up on Insta @therealspaceshack

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Okay this is something not many people know about my journey! My original business plan was to open a dessert waffle bar. I had a notebook filled with my business plan, recipes, store concept ideas, and more. After months of putting everything together, I discovered that there was another business opening up in town with the EXACT SAME CONCEPT. Needless to say, at the time I was so thrown off. How could someone else be doing what I was planning on doing? After they opened up, I went over to see how they did it. Honestly, I was super impressed with what they came up with, and the waffles were amazing.

I learned a lot of lessons from this experience, and it inspired me to go back to my roots. At the time, I was also making meal preps for my friends out of dishes that I grew up with in the South, such as Mac & Cheese, fried chicken, and more. And after moving to Fargo, I saw a lack of Southern food options in the area. I knew that I wanted to share food with others, and I realized that I had already been doing that naturally. So I leaned into what I knew, and developed better recipes out of the dishes I had been making for my friends. This eventually turned into my catering business, Sugar Hill.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

The most effective strategy for growing my business has been providing consistent, quality products and services. In doing so, our clientele have grown the business exponentially by giving word of mouth referrals to friends and family. When a client tells someone about our baked Mac & Cheese or our brunch services, its imperative that the quality of our food is consistent. So when a new customer tries our food, it’s as delicious as advertised. A referral from a trusted source holds so much more weight than a social media ad, and this has allowed us to obtain high-quality, returning clients.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @musicbyian
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/childsian331/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@musicbyian2/videos
• Other: Catering IG: @sugarhillfargo THC Ice Cream IG: @therealspaceshack