JustEm Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 So my 5 year old has expressed interest in having a lemonade stand so I've been thinking about this a lot lately. I grew up in a college town and still live there. When I was younger my brother, 2 cousins, and I would set up a lemonade stand every football game day across the street from our house. We sold it for 35 cents a cup or 3 cups for 1 dollar. Hundreds of people passed by as they walked to the game. On a normal game day we would make about $300. On parent's weekend or homecoming it was closer to $600. We did this for years with no problem! A few years after we were to old for it we heard some kids stand got shut down for not having the proper permits. So I was thinking would it be legal to give the lemonade away for free and just have a tip jar out? I would love to be able to use a lemonade stand as a learning experience in business and giving it away for free would defeat that purpose partially since it takes out figuring out comparing expense to figure out a cost. But the planning and making sure you have enough supplies is still there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I would call your town and tell them what your kids want to do. They might be fine with it if you ask first. Otherwise, maybe you could get a garage sale permit and have the lemonade stand be part of it. (You could make it all about the lemonade stand and just put a few other things for sale on a little blanket or something, if that's necessary to help meet town regulations.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 What a sad world where kids can't have a lemonade stand without a permit. . . My kids do them all summer. Made $50 in one day, once. We have never had a permit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I haven't heard of lemonade stands being shut down before.... maybe it depends on where it is. If it's on a school site, for example, then the school would be afraid that they'd be held responsible, perhaps? I think everyone knows the chances they take when they buy lemonade, however! Half of the lemonade I buy from kids I throw out once I turn the corner. :) My kids sold lots of lemonade over the years, on a nearby corner that gets a lot of traffic (well, for a small town, that is!). It was not on any privately-owned property, just city property, on an empty street corner. I showed them how to make it safely and cleanly and to make sure it was ice cold. There were always two or three children out there at a time. They always sold it for 25 cents no matter what, because then everyone felt they could afford it. But half the people that bought it would leave a big tip. (Many would buy one glass but leave a dollar.) We've also done lemonade stands in conjunction with garage sales. But then, we never needed garage sale permits in our town either. Maybe calling your city offices would be the best way to begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 That is an awful lot of money for a lemonade stand to make! Around here, kids tend to make around $30 a day if they are lucky. I could see a city wanting permits for something that made hundreds of dollars. I would not expect a city to care about the more small potatoes stand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted April 11, 2014 Author Share Posted April 11, 2014 Google it and you will see it happens. Now I don't know the specifics of why if happened in my town. Likely someone complained so they felt they had to do something. I know when we sold we were always on private property. I'll have to call the city. Its sad that I even have to worry about it and can't just let me son and his cousins do all the work. I learned so much about running a business with my lemonade stands. Information that I used as a high school student to start the pet sitting business I own now! I haven't heard of lemonade stands being shut down before.... maybe it depends on where it is. If it's on a school site, for example, then the school would be afraid that they'd be held responsible, perhaps? I think everyone knows the chances they take when they buy lemonade, however! Half of the lemonade I buy from kids I throw out once I turn the corner. :) My kids sold lots of lemonade over the years, on a nearby corner that gets a lot of traffic (well, for a small town, that is!). It was not on any privately-owned property, just city property, on an empty street corner. I showed them how to make it safely and cleanly and to make sure it was ice cold. There were always two or three children out there at a time. They always sold it for 25 cents no matter what, because then everyone felt they could afford it. But half the people that bought it would leave a big tip. (Many would buy one glass but leave a dollar.) We've also done lemonade stands in conjunction with garage sales. But then, we never needed garage sale permits in our town either. Maybe calling your city offices would be the best way to begin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milovany Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 We have had a stand similar to what you describe from your childhood; we lived on the same street as the five-day long county fair and thousands of people passed by our house. Houses in this area also parked cars on the lawn. There is an unwritten understanding that houses in this area could do these things without permits and taxes -- we offered a huge benefit to an event that's a huge benefit to the town as a whole. Anyway, I wouldn't worry about permits. It's rare that you hear about kids being shut down. I'd cross that bridge IF something happens (an unlikely if, depending on where you live I guess). I wouldn't do anything ahead of time. Something you could do, even though it's more expensive, is used premade, boxed (like Newman's Own) lemonade. Then you're not dealing with mixing and possible contamination, one of the concerns. You're pouring straight from the container. We started doing that in our last years of our lemonade stand, mostly because it was far less messy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I'm thinking for that amount of cash, I'd like to open MY OWN lemonade stand... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gil Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Wow, I can't imagine making that much money from a lemonade stand. I would probably just go for it one weekend, and see what happens. Other than that, you'd have to call a local agency (police? commerce of business?) and see what they say. I would just do it and see what happens though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abba12 Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I have heard of places being shut down too. I think there's very little risk of a fine or other major result, if they complain I think you'd just be told to shut it down, so id be inclined to just open it up and see what happens, and shut it down later if there are issues. At least you might get a day or two of educational experience first and maybe there won't be a problem at all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 check out lemonadeday.org. If you live in one of the participating cities, there is a waiver so that kids can have the stand and not have to worry about health department regulations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 We have friends whose kids have been doing lemonade stand to raise money for charity this summer through http://lemonadealley.com, might you have something like that in your area? It would be good practice, even if they were not making personal profits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted April 13, 2014 Share Posted April 13, 2014 I would just let them set it up and have the stand. If someone comes along and says they can't sell w/out a permit, then they can give it away... and put out a tip jar! :coolgleamA: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 We have too many regulations around here for that. I think a little kid could still get away with it if it's not a big production. Something generating $600 in sales is not going to fall into that category. Frankly, how many little kids can make enough lemonade by themselves (and have enough stamina) to make $600? Oh I don't know many kids who could have done it but my 2 cousins, brother, and I did with no help other than an adult driving us to the store to buy the ingredients. The first weekend we had to make 2 trips to the store. Honestly it wasn't a big production a all. We had a cooler to keep the extra lemonade in, a table for the cups and pitchers to sit on, a thing to hold our money, one kid responsible for making lemonade, and 3 loud kids yelling "get your lemonade here!" We also knew how to price it in order to have most people not want change so it turned it to $1 cups instead of 35cent cups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEm Posted April 13, 2014 Author Share Posted April 13, 2014 I would just let them set it up and have the stand. If someone comes along and says they can't sell w/out a permit, then they can give it away... and put out a tip jar! :coolgleamA: Yeah, I think this is what we will end up doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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