Meet the Sioux Falls man turning a camping business into a spark for good

Ben Forred found his business just from looking around his garage.

His hobby is woodworking, and he had just built a deck on the house he and his wife share with their four children.

“I had all this sawdust laying around, and I had these hockey puck molds for something else,” Forred said. “I wondered if I could take sawdust and mix it with soy wax and see if it would ignite and make a fire starter.”

It worked, and The Casual Campfire Supply Co. was created in July 2021.

Forred began selling the firepucks on Etsy – mixing sawdust from hardwoods and soy wax. First, it was just figuring out how e-commerce works and then trying to understand how to bring in actual revenue.

“I was like, holy cow, I’m making money on this,” he said. Next, he started a website and began experimenting with marketing – mostly through TikTok and Instagram. He sees the platforms as an opportunity to tell his story – and engage buyers.

@casualcampfiresupplyco Let’s end hunger together! #casualcampfiresupply #spendkindly ♬ original sound – The Casual Campfire Supply Co.

And buyers love the story.

“I wanted to find a way to make money from a side job and donate it to Feeding South Dakota,” Forred said. “My kids are in school. I learned that one in six kids in Sioux Falls live at risk of hunger, and that kind of blew me away. That shouldn’t be the case.”

He donates every quarter and makes a video to show where the money goes. He has shipped his product everywhere in the United States except Hawaii.

“So far, we have provided 21,734 meals (to Feeding South Dakota),” Forred said. “And that will grow. We are on a fast trajectory.”

He has expanded beyond firepucks and added more woodworking. There are different blends of firepucks infused with citronella and lemongrass oil to keep bugs away. And he makes custom fire pokers, bending them into shape and making the handles himself.

There’s barware, apparel, hats and blankets and then a whole section of home items, such as cutting boards. Recently, Aeon Laser USA donated an industrial-size laser engraver and cutter to the organization. “It will cut wood and engrave on stone and wood and glass and leather,” Forred said. “I can see a lot of product lines blooming out of that.”

This year, he hopes to get more involved in the entrepreneurial community and local business. “I want more South Dakotans to support this because it is staying here,” he said. “Twenty percent of every dollar I make is donated. I want to work with businesses to get products in their stores.”

The engraver, for example, creates an opportunity to co-brand with local businesses selling the products. “They can contribute to a place that is giving back to our state and feeding our children,” he said.

Forred and his wife, Renee, who owns Transitions Doula Agency, have four children age 3 to 11. He also works at Sanford Research. Starting his own business has been a lot, but he said it’s worth it to make other people’s lives better.

“It’s a lot of nights and weekends,” he said. “I never expected this to get as big as it has, but I’ve just ridden the wave. I’ve let it do that because it’s a good cause.”

It also fits with the values he and his wife want to instill in their kids – that of community and generosity.

“The kids have learned a lot about different things. They’ve learned how a business works and why we should use some of our spare time to do good in the world,” Forred said. “They asked for T-shirts with the logo, and they talk about it to their friends.”

For Forred, it’s a continuation of a lifetime of volunteerism. “As I learn how the systems work and how complicated society is, there are a lot of holes in the net,” he said. “There are so many fingers pointing at different things. You could spend your life making sense of that, but my choice is to plug the holes where I can. Instead of talking, let’s do something.”

That includes compassion for the LGBTQ community. “My heart goes out to that community. They are being singled out,” he said. Every June, he has a few Pride-themed products, and he donates to the Trevor Project. “I ask them to earmark that for kids and teenagers who are struggling or who need counseling or whose family needs to get together with a professional. This isn’t probably what you had in mind when you started a family. Last year, we donated about $260.”

Forred thinks his customers like knowing they are part of making a difference. “By making a conscious decision to buy something here, you’re getting something that will be useful and practical, but you’re also going to make a difference in the lives of others,” he said. “I always say I’m not doing this to brag because it isn’t my money – it’s your money.”

While the phrase “corporate social justice” applies, Forred said it’s also just about small business, noting that 62 cents of every dollar from a small business stays in that community.

One of the reasons he partnered with Feeding South Dakota was because he wanted an established and reputable group to give to. “I’m not reinventing any wheels here,” Forred said. He started out donating 50 percent of his profits, but as expenses rose and to cover some compensation for himself, it’s now at 20 percent. “I can’t subsidize it out of my own money anymore,” he said of the growing business. “But my donation from the first quarter of 2023 was bigger than the donation of 2022,” even with the lower percentage. “It’s a challenge to balance it, but I’ve become really passionate.”

Recently, he was telling his son about how the money funded 48 backpacks filled with food for kids who would have had lunch at school on Friday and then not had another meal until Monday. “We are giving them a bridge of food,” he told him. “On one hand, that sounds like a big number, but in Sioux Falls, that might be two classrooms. You think of two classrooms, and it doesn’t seem like that big of a splash, but to those families, that makes the biggest difference in the world.”

And his kids are watching, he said.

“What you teach them is what’s going to happen in the future. I’m trying to raise kids who are kind and who look at the world through the lens of equality and justice and understand that not everything is equal, but you can have an impact on that yourself, even in little ways.”

But again, he finds satisfaction in taking action and not in being recognized for it. “There’s a lot of talking going on, and I lean toward the doing,” he said. “I don’t need anyone to talk about what I’m doing – I’ll just be doing it.”

To learn more about The Casual Campfire Supply Co., click here.