How to Run a Successful Lemonade Stand
In an episode of “The Apprentice,” Donald Trump set the contestants out to the streets of New York to sell lemonade to gauge their business acumen. While selling lemonade may seem like child’s play, it is a very good way to teach your children how to manage their own business and make their own money. Here’s how you can help your kids run a successful lemonade stand.
Start with a Good Recipe
Powdered lemon-flavored drink mixes are not lemonade. The reason why many kids run a lemonade stand is because the ingredients are inexpensive and easy to acquire. Lemonade begins with a good recipe:
Fresh lemons. Lemons for lemonade are cheap, and can be found in the fresh fruit and produce section of the supermarket or the farmer’s market. If you have a few lemon trees, you may even use the fruit that grow from them.
Sugar. Sugar is very cheap, and can be bought for a few dollars or so. If you want a more natural or healthier recipe, you may also want to try honey.
Water. You do not have to use expensive brands of bottled mineral water to make lemonade, although you have to make sure that the water is absolutely clean and fit for drinking.
You can tweak the recipe around to suit the tastes of your customers. Just make sure that you don’t skimp on ingredients; remember that the better-tasting your lemonade is, the more customers will come to your stand.
Open Early, Close Late
Lemonade stands usually open during the summer break, when kids have plenty of time to make some money on the side for treats or for things they want to buy or save up for. The trick to any successful business - whether it’s a lemonade stand or a factory - is to always be in business to serve the first customer in the morning, and to serve the last customer until shop closes in the afternoon. While your child’s lemonade stand does not have to take over the rest of his or her fun for the summer, it pays to teach your child the value of diligence. You may also want to operate the lemonade stand while your kid is out playing or resting.
Keep Prices Down
Lemonade ingredients are cheap, so there’s no reason for your product’s prices to be expensive. The best measure of success is profit, but it doesn’t have to come as a windfall in just one day. Low prices for good-quality products will attract customers wherever you are. If people like your lemonade and your prices are reasonable, your business will spread and grow through word of mouth.
Innovate
No two recipes for lemonade are alike in terms of proportion, but what makes really good lemonade is innovation. Try to experiment with various flavors and ingredients to add to the basic lemonade recipe. You may try adding mint to the icy concoction, or even serve it as lemonade slushy on particularly hot summer days. Remember that you need to make your lemonade different and appealing so that customers will keep coming back for more.
The biggest business minds almost come from the smallest lemonade stand. You don’t need complicated business plans or strategies to run a successful lemonade stand; all you need is good lemonade and sound business practices to keep your loyal customers coming back for summers on end.