A new business in town is part of the long-standing entrepreneurial tradition of the lemonade stand.
When Jason Porritt and Louisa Marion-Bellemare saw their daughters and their friends setting up lemonade stands, they saw a learning opportunity, and the Squeeze Squad was born.
“Our daughter and her friends always have lemonade stands all summer, and this year, we asked them if they really wanted to start a business,” said Porritt. “So now they see how much money we have to spend to create the stand and all that, and teaching them to work with local businesses.”
From the logos to their slogan — squeeze it, shake it, drink it — to meetings with vendors, the girls have been hands-on at every step.
“Everyone helps everyone in a small community, and they made sure they went and chatted with everyone,” he said.
The lemonade stand is set up at the BIA Urban Market on Wednesdays and the Mountjoy Farmers Market on most weekends.
They’ve even recruited some of the girls’ friends to help.
The team already has some devoted followers checking in to see where the stand would be over the weekend, when they moved from their usual spot at the farmers market to Hollinger Park.
“We call them squeeze squad followers,” said Porritt.
The girls staffing the booth on Saturday said the experience has been great.
“I like being able to do a bunch of things I like to do,” said Lydia Porritt.
Gwendolyn Braden enjoys when the customers like the fresh lemonade.
They all agree on their favourite of the three flavours — Berry Blast is their suggestion for new customers.
The girls are learning skills like handling money and customer service.
The important part of this venture is that the girls enjoy it, said Marion-Bellemare.
“We want to make sure we keep it fun, so they keep interested in it,” said Porritt. “It’s been really good for them, and we did a lot of lemonade sampling!”
At the end of the summer, the girls will donate their earnings to a not-for-profit.
