It’s no secret that inflation is taking a toll on small businesses across the country, and small business owners are finding creative ways to make extra income.
Adults are making money from a lemonade stand business model that kids have long used to earn pocket money.
No longer a child’s play on a summer afternoon, twenty- and thirty-somethings across the country are squeezing lemons to pay bills and selling the refreshing beverage at farmers’ markets, festivals, and concerts.
“The cost of living is high and expenses are high,” Maria Blake, 26, of Washington, D.C., told The Washington Post. “I’m always looking for ways to do something other than my 9-to-5 job.” [job] For my debts and my future. Lemons are cheap. I thought I could do it too.”
Blake, who works in corporate public relations, said she has about $40,000 in student loan, credit card and car debt that she wants to pay off before enrolling in law school.
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Iced tea and lemonade for sale at Alphabet City in New York City. (Joan Slatkin/Education Images/Universal Images Group via / Getty Images)
“It takes money to make money,” as the old saying goes, so after Blake bought a cooler, lemon slicer, banners and other equipment to launch Maria’s Main Squeeze in May, she then had to figure out where to set up shop.
“There weren’t many people there, which was disappointing, but I wanted to give it a chance,” she said of her first Mother’s Day event.
Now she makes about $1,000 to $1,500 per event, and the lemonade sells for $8 a glass in watermelon, mango, strawberry, hibiscus and plain flavors.
Small business entrepreneurs embrace social media and understand that sales are weather and seasonal.
“The support I’ve received in such a short amount of time is amazing. I post about where I’m going and my supporters on TikTok come find me to buy lemonade,” she told The Post.
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Vendors sell lemonade, churros and arepas at the Miami Beach Live Carnival Experience. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group, /via Getty Images)
About 700 miles away, in Owensboro, Kentucky, Elizabeth Williams runs a mobile lemonade stand out of a former horse trailer she bought on Facebook Marketplace.
“The profit margins are very high. Because we’re not selling alcohol, we don’t have to get as many licenses and permits,” Williams told The Post.
Williams, 23, runs the business from April through August in Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana, and said he did $80,000 in sales last year, which translates to $2,000 to $10,000 per event.
She was able to pay off her small student loan debt and cover living expenses during the semester, even after hiring six to eight employees to help out.
Isa Hakim, known as “The Lemonade Man,” works at a food stand in Spring, Texas, on Aug. 31, 2023. (Brett Kummer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
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Before you start squeezing lemons, remember that laws regarding the sale of food and beverages vary from city to city and state to state.
“Generally, individuals selling cold food to-go are not required to obtain a vendor license,” the California Department of Taxation and Public Affairs told the Sacramento Bee.
