The Koerner Office - Business Ideas and Deep Dives with Chris Koerner - He Made $6K in 3 Hours Selling Lemonade - Ep. #309

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

beehiiv is the newsletter platform I’ve used for over a year and a half because their data shows you exactly what’s working. Get 30% off three months at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠�...��⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠beehiiv.com/chris⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠━Check out my newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://TKOPOD.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and join my community at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://TKOwners.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠━I sat down with Don from Boo Boo’s Lemonade and we talked about how a simple fresh squeezed lemonade stand turned into a real business doing around $250K in sales in just eight months. We broke down the exact recipe, pricing, startup costs, margins, farmers market setup, catering opportunities, and how they rent out their lemonade cart for events. Don also shared how they landed a $19K frozen banana catering order after getting the idea from one of my videos, and why simple businesses like this are often the ones people overlook. You can find them at https://boobooslemonade.com/ and on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/booboos.lemonadeEnjoy!---Watch this on YouTube instead here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tkopod.co/p-yt⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ask me a question on or off the show here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-ask⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn more about me: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cjk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Learn about my company: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-cof⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Twitter here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-x⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Free weekly business ideas newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-nl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Share this podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-all⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Scrape small business data: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://tkopod.co/p-os⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠---

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 In three hours, we did almost like $6,000. $6,000 in lemonade in three hours. Have you seen that YouTube video of the guy that makes like $7,000 a day selling lemonade? Yeah, yeah. I see how he does it too. And all the commenters like, there's no way. And you're like, no, there is. You tried it and you made 12 grand in profit.
Starting point is 00:00:16 Yeah, yeah, for that one time. And you'd never done it. You had no experience? No, no. We just watched a lot of videos. It's crazy because like a lemonade stand is what kids start. It is 20 bucks in the summer. It is.
Starting point is 00:00:27 And so people overlook it. Like, I'm too good for that. I'm, listen, like, I will be middle-aged lemonade stand entrepreneur all day long. Oh, yeah. Because also at the same time, like, my kids are involved in it. It's a great weekend gig, but then, you know, it's like we've kind of turned it more into this is all we do. Yeah. What are your startup costs in this business?
Starting point is 00:00:45 It wasn't much. You could technically do this with a mudler and a knife and a cutting board. A lot of corporate events, and especially a lot of family events, too. They just come in. It's two, three hours. It'll be anywhere from minimum of, like, about $1,000 to $3,000. $1,000 usually. Wow. I've had a lot of people just use it for cocktail hour, you know, for weddings. We'll do that for $500. Yeah. Just straight up rental for I drop it off. So what advice would you give people wanting to start this business in their market? Oh, just do it. Stop overthinking it. Yeah. Oh, should I do this? Should I do an LLC? It's like, no. You know, get a table, get a tent. Yeah. And then just post up last year, we hit about $250,000. 250,000? Yes. At farmers markets? Yes. Selling lemonade.
Starting point is 00:01:30 Selling lemonade. That's crazy. Yeah. And your margins have to be stupid. Yes, yeah. How big do you think you could get this business? I think we can get it to half a million. Wow.
Starting point is 00:01:38 Like in a year or two. Well, Don, why don't you tell me about your business? Well, I know the reached out about the lemonade cart, lemonade stand, but we actually, that's just an addition to our current lemonade stand business right now. So we actually started three years ago doing farmers markets. Okay. Lemonade? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:59 Fresh? Yeah, fresh squeeze lemonade, sugar, water, lemon. Okay. Yeah, that's it. And then I'm doing it with my kids. I used to have a catering business a long time ago, and then I left that. And, you know, it all really just started from the day I made my kids of fresh squeeze lemonade. And they just went nuts.
Starting point is 00:02:18 So it's literally water, cane sugar, lemons. Yeah, so ours is, like we do, we wedge the lemon, and then we smash it all the way in there. So you get all the oils and everything. and then we put it in the 32-ounce cup. Okay. And then we use simple syrup. So it's like a one-to-one ratio. Oh, so it just, so there's no, there was no graininess.
Starting point is 00:02:38 You don't have to dissolve the sugar. You know how sweet tea is like never. It's not really sweet tea if it's like sugar. Yeah. And so, yeah, we put the simple syrup in there, you know, pump it, shake it with like filtered water. Okay. And then that's it.
Starting point is 00:02:49 And then we do add some flavors to it too for anybody that wants like strawberry or mango. Mm-hmm. But we started that up at Frisco Fresh Market. It said three years ago, and it kind of, it really just grew. Really? Yeah. It was more than, it was supposed to be just a side thing, you know, because my wife and
Starting point is 00:03:07 I had our own business, you know what's said. And then we decided to leave it because of this. And then now we're at the Dallas Farmers Market, and we're at Frisco Fresh Market, and then we do caterings. And then we added our cart. Yeah. Yeah, because, and then we're expanding that so that we can do weddings and also just people who want to just rent it out because it's such a big hit.
Starting point is 00:03:30 Yeah. You rent out your cart? Yeah. Okay. To entrepreneurs or do people that have an event? The people that have an event. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:03:37 And so we rent it out. Now, I've had people already like bartending companies and just other like corporate events like want to reach out and, and rent it. Yeah. And for their event, just the kind of fit like we're doing like a low rider show. You know, so kind of like, yeah, so any kind of those classic car events, it's to kind of get in there. with that, then with just like a tent.
Starting point is 00:03:57 What did you do at your first market in sales and profits? Oh, profits. Well, we didn't even really count profit, like on the first year, you know? So I guess for our first year we probably did maybe like $25,000, $30,000. Wow. Right. But kind of fast forward to now with two markets. Like last year, we hit about $250,000?
Starting point is 00:04:21 $250,000? Yes. At farmer's markets? Yes. Selling lemonade. That's crazy. And your margins have to be stupid. Yes.
Starting point is 00:04:28 Yeah. They're good. Now, obviously, like, you know, with overhead, like with, you know, warehouse and everything is, you know, at that level right there, we can't just do it from home. Yeah. Like we used to. So what do you sell just a plain Jane 32-ounce lemonade for? $7.
Starting point is 00:04:42 And what's your cost on that? $1.25. Wow. Including packaging? Yeah, it's including packaging. Holy-old. So we have 32-ounce cup. And ice.
Starting point is 00:04:52 Ice is actually probably one of our biggest costs. Yeah. because we use emergency ice. Oh, yeah. I come out and deliver that. So it's really about a dollar a pound that we pay for that. And so then it was costing us, yeah, pretty much. Hey, please just take half a second and hit subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever
Starting point is 00:05:10 you're listening to this right now. It would really mean a lot. How many lemons go into one lemonade? One lemon. And that costs 20 cents? Yeah, yeah, depending on the season, you know, depending on like what's going on in the world. But limes also. And we also do limes and lime maids.
Starting point is 00:05:26 And so we do a buildout out of the Frisco Fresh Market. So we have kind of like a semi-permanent booth over there that we created. And then, yeah, it's just really seasonal because it closes for two months. And then we also have rain. Yeah. And everything. So technically we really hit that number last year based on like eight months. Holy come.
Starting point is 00:05:47 Quarter million dollars in sales in eight months selling lemonade, most of that profit. Yeah. Yeah. So it's kind of, I know, it kind of, you know, because... And this was just supposed to be a little project, helped your kids. Right, you know, because we homeschool our kids too, you know, and so it's a great way. And, you know, our kids are 10, 12, 17. That's almost like my kids.
Starting point is 00:06:08 Yeah. So then we let them do it, and obviously they can work at 10 years old. Yeah. You know, because of it being a family business. Yeah. And it looks really wholesome. You know, it's nice. And, you know, then my wife's a graphic designer.
Starting point is 00:06:20 So she's the one that did all the packaging and the design. and all that. And then in Dallas, we have a horse trailer. Okay. We converted it into a bar. Oh, wow. That's cool. So that's the one we bring out there. So it's just kind of. How do you manage multiple markets on the same day? Are my two oldest daughters? They work. One of them. And then I have a couple that does the Dallas farmers market. And then after that, I do anything like any other pop-ups or caterings. But catering is happening during the week. So that's really kind of like our focus right now and our big corporate caterings, especially like homeowners associations, school events. Those are great.
Starting point is 00:07:00 Yeah. What does an average market look like for you with regards to revenue, number of cups sold and profit? Revenue for Frisco. It used to be higher, but right now we're averaging about like $1,500 to $1,500 a day. How many hours is that? That's from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Okay. And then Dallas, it's going to be like right around $2,500 a day.
Starting point is 00:07:23 That's crazy. Yeah, so we can do a $25,000 weekend in Dallas. $25,000? No, no, $5,000. Oh, geez. Two days, just in Dallas. Yep, just in Dallas. What is your booth fee there?
Starting point is 00:07:34 $300. A day? No, total. Wow. That's crazy. With electricity. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:07:39 So I come in, I set up the, I drop off the trailer on Friday night, and then the couple comes in, sets it up, works it. And then I restocked again Sunday. Was there no one else doing lemonade at Frisco, Dallas? No, no. That was a surprising thing. I mean, there's a lot of people doing lemonade at festivals. Like, it's saturated, you know, in Texas.
Starting point is 00:08:02 Yeah. Especially with other concession, like food trucks and everything. But nobody really tried. And so we got in. Oh, man. Do you have protection from the markets from direct competitors? No, no, not really. There's an iced tea vendor at Dallas.
Starting point is 00:08:17 And then they do lemonade as well. well. Okay. But not the same way we do. Yeah. Not with the fresh squeezed right in front of you made to order. I mean, that's always the thing with everybody they'll look at. It's like, is it really fresh squeezed? And I just take a lemon. It's like, yeah, and watch this. Yeah. You know, and then it goes into a wedger, then it goes into a smasher. Then we put the sugar in there. And then just shake it up. How'd you come up with a recipe? Um, we found it on YouTube. Just online. Just like, yeah, online, just like everything else, you know. Have you seen that YouTube video of the guy that makes like $7,000 a day selling lemonade?
Starting point is 00:08:49 Yeah, yeah. I see how he does it too. And all the commenters like, there's no way. And you're like, no, no, there is. There is. There is. It's that, you know, just like our style and the way we do it. That's how we like to do it. Like, he does it differently, you know, then obviously like my experience with like beverage catering, you know, with, you know, before. Kind of like I brought a lot of that, you know, into it to make it a lot easier and made up, made my learning curve a little bit less because the only difference is I'm serving lemonade. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:17 Where do you get your syrup and your. lemons from? I get it locally from Restaurant Depot. Okay. And also from Benny Keith, I need to do a big order. Okay. And so all I order really is, you know, 140 count lemons and then 50 pound bags of sugar. Yeah. And then at our warehouse, we process it. We wash all the lemons at the warehouse. And then we just make one to one simple syrup in the, you know, we make probably like 60, 70 gallons of simple syrup at a time. Oh, so you make your own. Oh, so you just buy 50 pound bags of sugar. Okay, one to one. Yeah, one to one.
Starting point is 00:09:51 By weight or volume? By volume. So I just like it takes them those. Cup of water, cup of sugar. Actually, buckets. Yeah. So we take, yeah, the bucket. So I don't hear it this much, this much.
Starting point is 00:10:00 Yeah. Then we put it into one bigger bucket and then stir it up. Now, do you charge extra for strawberry or like, do you add fresh fruit or anything? No, not fresh food. That just adds complexity, right? It does adds complexity. Also, shelf stable, you know, like we don't really want to mess with that too much. And if somebody really just wants fresh lemonade,
Starting point is 00:10:17 then that's what they get. Yeah. It's like the purees that we have. Yeah, obviously it has like the dyes and everything like that. But we say, look, that's your choice to add that on there. Yeah. But if you want just fresh squeeze lemonade, this is it right here. So in a 32-ounce cup, you've got one lemon.
Starting point is 00:10:33 How much of your sugar, like how many ounces is that your sugar? Three ounces. Three ounces of the sugar. Simple syrup. And then how much ice in that cup? About one pound of ice fits in a 32-ounce cup. A pound of ice. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:46 Okay. Roughly. give or take. How many ounces of water are left over after that? At around 15 ounces. 15 ounces. Almost like a water bottle. Okay. So it's like almost 50% ice, 50% drink. Right, right. Yeah. And so on hot days, you know, people always tell us, like, don't put that much ice
Starting point is 00:11:00 and go, listen, it's going to melt. Yeah. And it's just going to go right into it. And then you'll have a cold drink. Yeah, yeah. So no. What's the feedback you get? Awesome. They love it? They love it. And a lot of times, just like, same thing to my kids. Yeah. That's lemonade I ever had. You know, and it still drives me, it just really, like, it makes me, it like really just surprises me because it's simple it's so simple well the best food is i feel like you know right right like the best pizza is flour and yeast and water and a little bit of salt yeah you know the best pizza sauce is crushed tomatoes yes that's like no salt no olive oil that's it you know and then we always make fun of like people that are making like like like that talk about country time
Starting point is 00:11:40 being like lemonade it's like you know if you actually look at the back of what country they're like 18 ingredients right and then there's nothing in there that's fresh yeah you know And so, and then there's some people at markets that market it as fresh lemonade or fresh in country time? Yeah, they're selling country time. You know, they get water out of a hose somewhere. And then the only fresh thing about it is the lemons that they have floating on top of it. And so listen, people aren't steward.
Starting point is 00:12:05 Yeah. You know, so they'll taste, they'll taste hours, they test shares. And then, you know, there's this gimmicky. And if there was anybody else. Yeah. So that's why we really don't care about, you know, we don't really worry about competition. We kind of just stay in our own lane. Like, hey, this is who we are.
Starting point is 00:12:19 Yeah. And even if there's other fresh squeezed lemonade vendors, then, you know, we kind of just still try to... Just do what you can do. Yeah, do what we can do, right? I mean, I went to a market, and they were selling fresh lemonade, and I saw them when they were packing up, and it was just gallons of Milo's lemonade from Walmart. Yep. But they were selling it for seven bucks. Yes.
Starting point is 00:12:38 Yeah. That's the part right there. It's like, no, we go in to... We just did a festival this past weekend. You know, I just bring bins of lemons. And then, like, you know, then I have my simple syrup. Yeah. And then ice.
Starting point is 00:12:50 Then I'm just going to make sure you have a lot of ice. Yeah. How much is the crusher, the lemon crusher? So the wedger, it's a sunkiss wedger. Those run around like $350. Okay. And then there's two types of smasher. Like, they have a pneumatic smasher.
Starting point is 00:13:01 Oh. Where you push a button and just this is like cool. That brings a lot of people in. Yeah. So we have that. And we also have like handheld smasher that we just get for Amazon. Okay. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:11 And then those are about 120 bucks. Okay. And it does the same thing and then but just doesn't have the same kind of effect. Right. You know, because like you can hear it like in our markets. You can hear it. It's an honestling and you walk in and you hear the. Sounds like money.
Starting point is 00:13:24 Yeah, that's us right there every single time. What are your startup costs in this business? It wasn't much, you know, other than the equipment, you know, probably about like $1,500. You know, no, we spent a lot more on R&D, you know, like buying, you know, like, hey, what decor works. Yeah, everything works. to my wife's very, like, big on, you know, decor and just the look, aesthetic and everything. So we spent a lot on that. But as far as just from an operational standpoint, it didn't take much.
Starting point is 00:13:54 Yeah. And then that was just to make it easy. You could technically do this with a muddler and a knife and a cutting board. But if you have volume, then. Mudler is in one of those. Yeah, just one of those that you can do it by hand. Yeah. But if you're doing the kind of volume it we're doing, you know, you'll have arthritis,
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Starting point is 00:15:03 and your data scientists all in one. So move your email list over today and try Beehive 30% off for 30 days with code Chris 30. because this might be the simplest, highest leverage business you can build right now. What was the best market you ever did? We did, it wasn't even a market, it was like a pop-up. We did the eclipse. Oh, yeah, a couple years ago? Right, right.
Starting point is 00:15:24 So we just posted it up on a, it was a weekday. But where were you? Where did you? We were in the city, for the city of Irving. Okay. They have like a plaza out there for special events. Okay. And literally we just went through in like in three hours.
Starting point is 00:15:36 We did almost like $6,000. $6,000 in lemonade in three hours. And that's like $5,000 profit. Yeah. Yeah. So, and then that was... Why can we have an eclipse every day? Oh my gosh, I know.
Starting point is 00:15:48 I know. But right now it's like, look, April's been horrible as far as like weather. Yeah. But now, like last week, it was good. So now we're looking forward to all of these. So our markets are set. Now we're just trying to get more festivals, more, and just more catering. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:16:03 And catering is really where it's, you know... What are the economics of catering like? Like, what's an average catering order? I'll just give you an example. I had one for $2,900, and all I did was $300. And they're pre-batched or like pre-made because that's what they wanted. So we made pre-made lemonade's a $5 a cup. So by the time you include travel, like we call them squeezeologists.
Starting point is 00:16:29 So those are our servers. Yeah. Travel, service fee, bar rental. Everything that came out to like $2,900 for a four-hour event. That's what we're trying to get. I'm sure. of, you know, because a lot of these, a lot of corporate events, and especially a lot of family events, too.
Starting point is 00:16:45 They just come in. It's two, three hours. And then it'll, it'll be anywhere from minimum of, like, about $1,000 to $3,000 usually per catering. How do you find customers like that? Right now, I'm working on just SEO. Okay. That's where it's really getting.
Starting point is 00:17:02 We're pushing it at our market saying that we're catering. We had a lot of graduation. We really pushed graduation this year. Yeah. You know, so a lot of graduation. events and that worked out. What do you use Facebook Marketplace for? For our, we use it for the, I'm pushing our rentals.
Starting point is 00:17:19 Yeah. Yeah, because I'm trying to get them, get people, and then also then throw in lemonade with it. Yeah. And it's like if they're going to get the cart, said, listen, why don't you just get the lemonade with it as well? So we've already kind of booked like several that because we sell, we'll do that for $500. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:17:37 Just straight up rental for four. I drop it off. I've had a lot of people just use it for cocktail hour, you know, for weddings. Yeah. So I've already booked those, like several of those. And that one's going to be easy. I'll just drop it off at the venue and let whoever bartending company to have use it. You don't need any manpower for that.
Starting point is 00:17:55 No, no. What do you charge through that? $500. Jeez. Yeah. For a day? Yeah, through the, like, you know, if they're getting us through a Facebook market. Okay.
Starting point is 00:18:02 It's kind of like my special right now. Yeah. But normally there's a $250 like delivery and pickup. Okay. Along with that as well. And do you get good business? business from Facebook Marketplace? Yeah, yeah, Facebook Marketplace is great.
Starting point is 00:18:13 Do you boost your posts at all? No. You don't need to. No. We just kind of, you know, I get a lot of it too through between what I post on Facebook Marketplace and my network, you know, on my friends. So I've gotten a lot of that. But this is the first time I've really pushed the rentals, you know, on it.
Starting point is 00:18:31 And then we're getting it through also with our website. Yeah. It's crazy because like a lemonade stand is what kids start, you know, to be 20, you know, 20 bucks in the summer. It is. And so people overlook it. It is. You know?
Starting point is 00:18:43 Like they try to look at other things. Like I'm too good for that. Yeah. No, no, no. I'm not. I'm not listening. Like I will be middle age, you know, like lemonade stand entrepreneur. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:54 You know, all day long. Oh, yeah. Because also the same time, like my kids are involved in it and then they see what it takes to do it. They're getting really good at it. Oh, yeah. And so I'm waiting for my boys to just be strong enough and old enough to just keep this going.
Starting point is 00:19:07 I'm sure. Because, you know, it's a great weekend. weekend gig, but then, you know, it's like we've kind of turned it more into, like, this is the old, this is all we do. Yeah. How big do you think you could get this business? We could probably get it to, you know, I'd like to get it to about a least. And I think we can get it to half a million.
Starting point is 00:19:24 Wow. Like in a year or two, because we also have partnerships with concession, with concession companies. And we are in like several, like venues that we work with, like, especially, yeah. And so we're at like a couple of convention centers. And we're going to go into a big. push for for graduations. Yeah, so there's a lot of those. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like.
Starting point is 00:19:45 Imagine being at like American Airlines Center. Yeah. Is that kind of the goal? Yes, yes, yeah, exactly. Cowboys stadium. Cowboys, Rangers, everything like that. That would be the goal. I mean, we're working towards right now, the goal is by September to have our first,
Starting point is 00:19:59 our first retail, like storefront. It's just a matter of where that's going to be. You know, Frisco seems to be the best bet. Yeah. For that. So what advice would you give people wanting to start this business in their markets? Oh, just do it. Stop overthinking it.
Starting point is 00:20:14 Yeah. You know, there's so many people that, you know, like I'll go on Facebook marketplace or Facebook lemonade groups and everybody just, there's so many questions, how should I do this? How should I do this? Should I do an LLC? It's like, no, just get a stand. Yeah. You know, get a table, get a tent.
Starting point is 00:20:31 Yeah. You know, like get your recipe right. Yeah. And then just post up. It's funny because I, we have a farmer's market here. right around the corner. And I was going to film the video this Saturday of me doing something different,
Starting point is 00:20:42 but I procrastinate it. I didn't order the stuff in time. And now I kind of want to do that over here if nothing else for the content and just see how much money I could make. Yeah, just really just post up if they let you, you know, because like a lot of times you have to go through an application process.
Starting point is 00:20:55 Yeah, it's like, it's such a small town. Okay, yeah. Do it. My wife has been a vendor a bunch of times. Okay. Listen, even right now, like Texas has a lemonade law where if you're under 18, like you don't have to have homeowners association
Starting point is 00:21:07 permission. We don't have to have health permits. So this summer I'm going to have my kids with a lemonade stand, just park, post up at a park in front of the house. Heck yeah. And then just do that because, and then also see if anybody says anything because they really can't because they passed this law like five years ago. Yeah. And so, yeah. How did you land on seven bucks? Just from research, what everybody else is doing. And then also at the same time, we want that to be, if you want to have good value, like, you know, it's like $7 for big 32 ounce lemonade. Yeah. And then that's kind of like, that's our anchor price. Okay.
Starting point is 00:21:41 You know, that one we won't move at all. Are they foam cups? No, they're kind of like, they're deli cups. With the lids? Yes. You'd you like punch a hole in it and put a stride? Okay, I've seen that. So yeah, they're the.
Starting point is 00:21:54 They don't look 32 ounces, right? No, they're 32 though, yeah. But they look smaller than that. Yeah, you can hold it with your hand. Yeah. So they're like translucent ones. They're kind of like the ones that you put soup in. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:22:04 Yeah, for it to go. Okay. That's really what the intentional is. for it. Yeah. And so that's why when you, when you cap it and you shake it, it's really, you get a good shake around it, then you punch it. Okay. Do you get much pushback on price? No, no, we don't. Wow. You could charge more. I mean, if you wanted. Right. And then even at our, even at the partner venues that we have, we charge 10. Wow. Because we have to give a commission. Oh, you know, two or a million, sometimes 40. Wow. Right. But I'm really just
Starting point is 00:22:31 going for volume on that more, sure, more than anything else, you know, and then we have, our partner does the labor for it. And then we do the product. Okay. And then the brand. Man. Is there anything I could have asked you that I didn't or should have? Anything cool about the business that I missed that on?
Starting point is 00:22:49 You know, so we have like lemonade's part of our concession company. And then based on a video you posted last year. So we started bananas for some bananas. Oh, awesome. Yeah. And we don't do it that much because it's hard to do both. Yeah. But I do it for catering.
Starting point is 00:23:03 Yeah. And the first time. I showed up, I had it, it was a party trade show. Some lady decided, hey, I want to do, yeah, let's do it. We did it for 1,500 people. We did frozen bananas and then we also have these apples that are apple nachos. Oh, I've seen those, yeah. Yep. And then we did it for that much with everything on there, 19,000. 19,000. Yeah. Is what you named? No, we charged. No, we charged. Holy crap. You'd never done that before? No, that was the first time we served frozen bananas. I mean, it was, and we had so many left over, you know, because we froze. Yeah. So many for
Starting point is 00:23:35 1500 people. Well, that's the brilliant part is unlike lemons, they don't go bad. No, they just kind of roll over. You know, so when we get it, we wrap it. You know, same thing like those people out in California. Yeah. Yeah. How much of that was profit of your 19,000? A lot. 12? Probably, yeah. By the time everything was said and done because we spent a lot on labor. Okay. But then the problem, the great thing about it, too, was we did, we were supposed to be upfront, but then now they put us as dessert. So we were like seven to nine. And a lot of people it already left, you know, because they came in to eat, drink. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:07 And then we were to dessert portion of it. And then they just like. So how did that come about? Like you got a lead for lemonade and then you just thought to sell bananas to them instead or what? Yeah. Yeah. So again, they're like, what else? Right.
Starting point is 00:24:18 They were like, what else do you do? It's like, hey, we can do pros and bananas. Yeah. And they were intrigued because, you know, nobody does it really. I don't ever see it around here. Yeah. Everybody tells me everybody does it, but I've never seen it. Listen, I need more people like this to interview on my podcast.
Starting point is 00:24:32 So if you know. of someone with a side hustle or a business that's unique and cool and super profitable, email Molly, M-O-L-L-L-Y at co-founders.com. That's one word, co-founders.com. Molly at co-founders.com, tell her your story and we'll give you $100 if we end up interviewing them. So usually when that's the case, you try it and it doesn't go well. Because like someone already tried it, it's just not a good fit for the area. Maybe it's only a beach thing, but you tried it and you made $12,000 in profit. Yeah, yeah, for that one time. And you'd never done it. You had no experience. No, no. We just watched a lot of videos. You know, and then trial and there.
Starting point is 00:25:03 you know, what kind of stick goes in there the best. Yeah. You know, and then, you know, and just like my wife did, then my kids did like, about 900, like, bananas. And storing those. Yeah. You know, it was also difficult and everything. But we got it out there.
Starting point is 00:25:18 Did you get those from Restaurant Depot? No, those I got from Benny Keith. Okay. Because Benny Keith is like a restaurant supply. Okay. And then you can get more, like, you know, the kind of bananas you want, like, I don't want. It was like a certain brand, you know,
Starting point is 00:25:30 I can't ever remember it, but you tell them, like, at this stage. Yeah. That's the one I want the banana. Okay. Okay. Right. So then they'll give you those. So then by time you get it, put it in there. And then yeah, even just the warmers. Yeah. Yeah. We have to get like four of those. So if someone's watching this and they don't want to do lemonade, they want to do bananas. What advice do you have for them? Same thing. Just do it. Yeah. You know, especially like watching your channel, watching everybody else. Like, you know, that's where I get all my ideas. We just sit there because, yeah, we can do that. Yeah. You know, it's kind of like within our, you know, our framework.
Starting point is 00:26:02 Yeah. What we do. So it's just something like to add to it. But banana is actually even easier because like you said, it's not even a parachute. You know, it's like as soon as it's frozen. Yeah. You're good. Chocolate's easy.
Starting point is 00:26:13 And then the toppings. Yeah. Nelt the chocolate. Yeah. Topping. Yeah. You kind of just like pile the stuff on it. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:21 Just do that. And it hardens. Yeah. And then those things. Right. Right. Yes. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:25 We also sold it. We did sell it one time too at a. at October Fest. It didn't go as well, but yeah. We tried anyway good. We used leftover bananas from that catering. So it's still even profited even more on that too. So yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:38 We're doing bananas on Saturday morning. Seriously, yeah. Or lemonade at the Lucas Farmers market. Right now, I mean, people go nuts over. It's amazing. It's just like I said. So simple. Which is easier to sell on a day like this?
Starting point is 00:26:49 Lemonade. Okay. Lemonade's easy. You have to explain bananas. Yeah. But then if you'd have both, then it would kind of like, yeah, because it doesn't really take up that much space.
Starting point is 00:26:57 Yeah. You know, because we were, we're going to do more bananas this year. And we'll just kind of buy one of those, like, freezers that you get from Buckees. You know, those little cooler ones. Yeah, I do. Yeah. And I can just, you know, stuff about like maybe 50, 60 of them in there and then have a bigger freezer. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:11 So we can go mobile on it really pretty easy. Yeah. The only thing is the power that you need to keep the warmer. Oh, yeah. Chocolate warmer going. But if you just had one of those little battery packs or even just a silent generator. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:24 Yeah, you could do it. You can even get like a chocolate fountain. Yeah. You want it and just dip it in there? Yeah. Seriously, it goes, it's so easy. Yeah. You know, like, it's just a matter of like just doing it.
Starting point is 00:27:34 You know, I mean, even for us, like, you know, what else can we had? Yeah. You know, because we're already doing it. That is amazing. Don, I'm like, my mind is blown. This is awesome. Where can people find you in your business? Boobo's lemonade.com.
Starting point is 00:27:47 B-O-O-B-O-O-S lemonade.com. Okay. And then on Instagram, booboos. Dot lemonade. Okay. Thank you, Don. Chris. I appreciate it.
Starting point is 00:27:56 Hey, guys. If you're still listening to this, it's probably because you haven't had a chance to take your AirPods out. You're still mulling the lawn. You're still driving. What have you. If you're still here with me, I would really, really love and appreciate a five-star review on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast. It would mean a lot. If you want to go the extra mile, share this episode with a friend that might have an interest in starting a business.
Starting point is 00:28:19 It would mean a ton. Hope you have the best day of your life today.

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