Let’s consider planning the set-up of a lemonade stand. Before you get started, you have a lot of things to consider or decisions to make. You can make it as simple as possible or very sophisticated. Like in any business, the more thought you put into developing it right, the better the chance you have of succeeding.
Our book ” The Kids’ Guide To Business” helps you develop a lemonade stand business.
The following list contains many terms that you will learn to use in business, so we thought you may want to consider them in the development of your lemonade stand business.
- a recipe for your lemonade (what ingredients do you use, is it sweet)
- a product name for your lemonade – Example; “Tyler and Hayley’s Tasty Real Lemonade”
- acquisitions, should you acquire or buy another lemonade stand business?
- accounting or keeping track of the money to pay your bills and anything you owe
- charity – how much of your proceeds do you give to charity and to which charity?
- competition, is there competition in your area- other kids or businesses selling lemonade or cold drinks in the area. What are they selling their product for, how big are their servings, how good is the product, is it colder, is it sweeter etc. What are they doing better or differently then you?
- distribution, have you consider other ways to get your products in the hands of customers. Could you package and sell it to other lemonade stands, to stores etc.
- environmental considerations. Do you use reusable glasses or recyclable glasses?
- external factors. Weather can effect your business. Watch the weather forecast and alter your hours of operation based on weather conditions.
- financing (money) required to buy the supplies and other costs to get started
- focus groups to help you test your product to ensure that people like your product before you go and sell it
- franchise, is your lemonade stand business format ready for franchising. For example, could you sell your approach and coach others on running a lemonade stand.
- a money box with some change
- supplies you will need – water, glasses, ice, lemonade ingredients, containers to hold the lemonade
- budget – what you are planning to spend to get started and what do you expect to sell?
- design and construction of the stand for the serving of the lemonade
- global – could your business go global by selling in other countries?
- figure out your hours of operation – when to start serving lemonade and when you will be open for business
- internet – figure out ways to use the internet as a tool to help your business
- location of the stand with consideration for safety and traffic flow of customers. As in any business, location is very important
- market research on consumer behavior (who will buy it , how do they like it, when will they buy it, how much will they pay, size of serving and packaging)
- marketing materials – signs, advertising campaign
- create some media attention – press release, news, classified listing
- merger – should you merge with another business in your area
- partnerships – should you work with a partner and how should you share the responsibilities, the money required to get started and the sharing of the money left over
- payment terms – what type of payment should you accept for your product (cash – what size of bills, cheques, barter, visa, bank cards etc.)
- press release – to tell people you are in business
- promotion – what are you doing to get people to try your product
- packaging – packaging of the product in glasses etc.
- price – what you are going to sell the lemonade for
- quality control procedures to ensure a consistent taste, clean handling of all product and ingredients
- regulations – are there by-laws, laws or regulations controlling business in your area. Do you need permits or some type of license to sell lemonade. Does your product need to be certified or inspected.
- figure out a staffing schedule – who and how the stand will be staffed( who makes it, who sets up the stand, who sells it , who puts the stand away)
- sales pitch – what you will say to customers as they approach your stand
- secret formula – have you developed a secret formula or recipe for your lemonade
- safety, please ensure that you have discussed with an adult your own safety and the safety of people that are helping you at the stand. Unfortunately, it is not always safe to be unattended at the side of your street or the street that you are considering to set up your stand. (You may want to operate your lemonade stand during a yard sale – when adults can be working near by).
- security – make sure you consider ways to protect your product and other things at your stand from being taken by someone
- supervision – make sure you are properly supervised by an adult. If you are using real lemons that need to be cut, have an adult cut them or train you on how to do it (we don’t want you to cut your fingers!).
We have probably missed some things to consider – if you can think of other things, please send us an e-mail from contact us. Subject: Lemonade Stand Ideas.
We are not trying to make the lemonade stand complicated or take the fun out of it. We just want to give you some ideas to consider and to provide a little more challenge for the older kids.