Armando and Julia Dunand’s first lemonade stand in June might have made a profit if it hadn’t been for all the overhead.
Their mom, Lisa Dunand, bought a crate of 75 lemons to fuel her children’s effort on Golden Triangle Lemonade Day. That proved too many for one day of sales.
But the thing about lemons, as Armando and Julia will quickly tell you, is “they’re delicious” and they keep. So, the young entrepreneurs and their LemonHeadz Lemonade Stand pressed on through the summer at the Hitching Lot Farmers Market, eventually selling through the crate and two more bags of lemons before they finally packed it in Aug. 24.
By then, Armando, 11, and Julia, 8, had paid off their overhead, made a little money for themselves and donated some of their proceeds to Annunciation Catholic School in Columbus where they attend.
“We figured out how to work it out, and people loved it,” Julia said.
Her brother added, “We had a whole lot of fun.”
The “fun” also brought a whole lot of work.
After Lemonade Day – a program sponsored by the Mississippi State University Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach geared toward teaching youth some of what it takes to run a small business – the Dunands got up at 5:30 a.m. every Saturday, loaded up their folding table, signs and goodies and drove to the Farmers Market where they spent three hours peddling their wares.
As the summer went on, the business diversified beyond lemonade. The Dunands sold blueberries, blackberries and pears. Julia even learned how to germinate lemon seeds to make saplings and sell to customers.
“Sometimes you just wanted to leave because it was so hot,” Armando said. “Sometimes you just didn’t want to go out there because you had to get up so early. But we kept doing it.”
Knowing their strengths
Julia was the artist and worked mostly behind the scenes, making signs, weighing berries and helping make the lemonade.
Armando was the front man for the business, glad-handing prospective customers and drawing them to the stand on market day.
“They got along relatively well,” Lisa said. “They knew what they were comfortable doing and they supported each other. … They also both worked really hard coming up with ideas for how to make the stand better and communicating those.
“Armando got a little taste of sales and Julia got a taste of marketing,” she added. “Both learned about the work that goes into something like this. Some days were a success and some weren’t. Some days we came home with no lemonade, and other days we took home a few gallons.”
They sold to market customers and market vendors, alike, soon becoming known as having “the” lemonade stand at the market – for their persistence, the quality of their product and their openness to customer feedback.
As an example of the latter, the Dunands at first would put several cups of iced lemonade out for sale at once. A customer, Armando recalled, told them instead to only keep a taste test cup out on the table and pour the lemonade when customers ordered it. That way, it wouldn’t get watered down in the ice.
Market manager, Tony Rose, advised the Dunands to change their sign to make their intent to donate some proceeds to Annuciation more prominent. That strategy also seemed to drive sales.
“They have a good product, a good recipe for the lemonade, and that helped them succeed,” said Rose, who has managed the market for 13 years. “In the past, we’ve had lemonade stands come, stay a few weeks and be gone. But they have stuck with it and built up a pretty good clientele, I’d imagine. Their perseverance has led to their success.”
Armando credits much of the stand’s success to other vendors showing them the ropes. But, like Rose, he noted the product also spoke for itself.
“I enjoyed making money, and we met some interesting people,” he said. “It was exciting to know they bought lemonade not because we were kids, but because it was good.”
What’s next?
The folding table for LemonHeadz Lemonade Stand may be shelved for now, but the Dunands will be back and they’re already brainstorming.
“Certain ideas you have to think out, and certain ones you have to cast out,” he said.
Talking to his mother last week, Armando began spit-balling suggestions to further diversify when the stand reopens next summer.
“We’ll try lemon cake and lemon bread,” he said. “Maybe even lemon granola bars.”
“Not lemon granola bars,” Lisa insisted, before she offered a hint of backtracking. “Well, would anybody eat those?”
Armando and Julia seemed to agree people would. So the granola bars at least have a shot of making it to the menu.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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