Meet David & Sailor Money | Owners of Sailor’s Chillzone

We had the good fortune of connecting with David & Sailor Money and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David & Sailor, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Well, I’m an actor and for the past 3-5 years, the industry has taken some hits, as a result, opportunities have really slowed down for me. In the back of my mind, I was always dreaming up ideas of a side hustle that could supplement the slower seasons. So that, paired with having a young daughter, I found myself at a birthday parties or fundraising events almost every weekend. My wife and I noticed specific vendors who had long lines, high prices and lacked sugar free options. Our daughter Sailor has never been big on sweets. She passes up cake at parties and even at age 10, she has never had juice of any kind, by choice! Her dentist loves her! Since she was about age four, she would ask for crushed ice or a snow cone for dessert with no flavor. Her kindergarten teacher sent home Sailor’s gratitude list for Thanksgiving that read “but there is one thing I’m thankful for most of all, it’s Ice!” Ultimately, our shave ice business was inspired by Sailor’s love of ice.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Something meaningful to me is the fact that we built this business as a family. Working together with my wife and daughter to create the logo, design the cart, choose the flavors, toppings, tee-shirt etc.., it was a lot of hard work, but we created this business in six months’ time, that was a big accomplishment. I also love that my daughter is getting a taste of entrepreneurship at such a young age. While she doesn’t get to attend every event with me, Sailor’s been part of the process from start to finish. If I’m serving a kid’s party and bring her along, I get to witness her taking orders, pouring flavors, adding toppings, keeping her workspace clean, conversing with the customers, answering their questions, helping them choose a combination. It makes me so proud to see her take ownership, all these skills add up to a strong work ethic that will serve her later in life. We try and set ourselves apart by having great customer service, a really tasty product, sugar free/dye free flavors as well as a great attitude at every event. We’re truly grateful for each booking, we just have fun, that’s probably why most of our business this past year was referral based, to us, that is the best compliment we could get! This April will be our 1st anniversary; we are looking forward to the summer months ahead.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Our favorite things to do in LA are Cinespia, Ciclavia, enjoy the beach and eat Mexican food at Sol Y Luna in the Valley. If we have friends visiting, we will often head up to Santa Barbara and charter a boat from SBSail then hit the Boathouse at Henry’s Beach for an oceanside seafood meal. I also love live music so anytime there is a chance to catch that at a family friendly location, we’re all in!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Our Shoutout goes first and foremost to our flavor supplier in Arizona. We searched high and low for a quality product to bring to Los Angeles. We even considered purchasing flavors from Hawaii to be able to bring over an authentic taste to our customers. The most important thing for us as a family, was being able to offer delicious sugar free and dye free flavors to our community. In our deep dive, we stumbled upon a family run supplier, Hypothermias. The owner Jace invited us to visit his warehouse and sample the flavors. With that visit Jace was so warm and generous with his time. He gave us tons of advice, encouragement and a small list of “things that can go wrong.” That connection was the gift that keeps us going, we are so grateful for them.

Next, we worked with Unique Vending to design our beautiful custom cart, shoutout to Dorely!
Our talented Web Designer Jacqueline De Poortere deserves a major shoutout!
The incredibly skilled local photography team Colin & Ali that took photos for our website, shoutout to Ali Buck Photo!
Last but certainly not least, our friends that supported our launch, refer us like crazy and believed in us from the start…
Steve & Pavani Chiu
Lanai Road Elementary PTO
Will Collyer
Jill Schwartz
Pedro Coelho
Ally Dixon
Devon Stewart
McCrillis Family

Website: https://www.sailorschillzone.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sailorschillzone

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/sailors-chillzone-san-fernando-valley-2

Image Credits
Ali Buck Photo
Headshots by Jeff