How to Have a Good Lemonade Stand

If you are an enterprising child with a yen for turning a profit, you may have thought about starting your own lemonade stand. Running this business successfully is a matter of choosing a suitable location, designing an attractive stand, collaborating with a local charity, negotiating with your investors, dividing the labor and creating the product.

• 1

  Choose a location that attracts a high volume of foot traffic. If you live on a suburban street, chances are there won't be many people passing by. A better choice is to plan for your stand to be near some kind of event, like a soccer game at a public park. Check with the local department of parks and recreation first to make sure this is okay.

• 2

  Design a stand that catches the eye. Bright colors and oversized props will draw people in from a distance. Use signs, music and costumes to get your message across. The more work you put into your design, the more appealing it will seem to your potential customers.

• 3

  Collaborate with a local charity. If you get permission from your local parks department to put your stand in a public park, maybe a portion of your proceeds can go towards park maintenance and restoration. Or you can donate some of the profits to your local children's hospital or a nature conservancy. Whichever cause you choose, it's bound to pique interest and draw more customers to your stand, and will give you something to feel good about.

• 4

  Negotiate with your investors. In all likelihood, the principal investors in your business will be your parents, but you can also work out deals with your friends and their parents. The start-up costs of your business include construction materials and supplies. Your investors will probably want a small share of the profits in return for their financial support.

• 5

  Negotiate a division of labor and create the product. If you have two co-workers, the most workable arrangement may be to rotate responsibilities (i.e., making lemonade, customer service and advertising.) Alternatively, you can adopt a managerial approach and direct operations while your co-workers handle these tasks. A simple yet very good lemonade recipe can be found at Simply Recipes; the link is in the Reference section below.