Lemonade stands and other curb-side kid-businesses are a staple of summer. Unfortunately, so are the spoilsports who complain about the junior-sized ventures. But be fore-warned, naysayers. Not only are small businesses the second most trusted institions in the U.S., the small businesses run by small kids are likely the most beloved small businesses there will ever be. That’s why we’re loving the stories we are seeing this summer about the reaction to those who call the authorities to shut down the kids.
Don’t be like #PermitPatti
After a video of a lady calling the police (or perhaps just pretending to) asking them to shut down an 8-year-old’s bottled-water-stand went viral worldwide, support from the neighborhood — and from around the globe — started pouring in. And because her reason for selling bottled water was to raise money for a trip to Disney World, a singer named Jonathon Brannon @BrannonMusic even sent her four tickets to the theme park.
Minneapolis 13-year-old discovers the downs and ups of a start-up
Wanting to make enough money to purchase new school clothes for the fall, 13-year-old Jaequan (“jay-kwan”) Faulkner opened a hot dog stand in his front yard earlier this summer. At first, things were going great. His stand, “Mr. Faulkner’s Old Fashioned Hot Dogs” even got a shout-out endorsement on the Facebook Page of Bike Cops for Kids, a community outreach program of the Minneapolis police department.
But like many small business owners discover, there are always some bumps on the road to success. For example, Jaequan discovered that to serve food to the public, his stand was required to have a city health inspection. And like “PermitPatti,” someone complained about the stand because it was not officially permitted.
But instead of having to shut down his hot dog stand, Jaequan received hands-on help from the staff of the Minneapolis Health Department, the Minneapolis Promise Zone and the Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON) who all joined together to help bring Faulkner’s hot dog stand up to code.
The health department staff even chipped in to help pay for his $87 permit.
“We’ve been working with Jaequan on the business side of things, like basic business, finance, marketing, pricing… he’s really been excited about all of it,” Ann Fix, program manager for the Northside Food Business Incubaor through NEON and Appetite for Change, told Heidi Wigdahl, a reporter at Minneapolis’ KHOU News 11.
In the process, Faulkner learned another small business lesson: “Surprisingly, I’m like, dang the city’s not the bad guys in this situation. They’re actually are the ones who are helping me,” Faulkner told Wigdahl. “It makes me feel kind of—not kind of—really proud that people know what I’m doing.”
Country Time Lemonade launches Legal-Ade to bring permits and fines up to date
While it’s being done with a clever, humorous twist (kudos for the photo above), Country Time Lemondade has launced Country Time Legal-Ade, described by the company as “a crack team ready to straighten out lemonade stand-related permits and fines. Legal-Ade will defend kids’ right to a lemonade stand and all the benefits they bestow.”
While the program has a fun twist, it also has some serious longterm bite to it:
Any child fined for running a lemonade stand without a permit can have his or her parent apply for reimbursement. To apply, simply upload the image of your child’s permit or fine along with a description of what your lemonade stand means to your child, in his or her own words.
The submission will be reviewed by the Legal Ade team and if it complies with the terms, the youngster will receive the exact amount to cover the permit or fine, up to $300.00*. (Visit CountryTimeLegalade.com for complete details.)
As you can guess, there’s a social media twist to the program, as well. Every re-tweet the Country Time Legal-Ade video below receives, Country Time will donate $1 (up to $500,000) to help kids next year and beyond.
(Note: If you don’t see the video here, click to and re-tweet this tweet on the @CountryTime Twitter account.)
Kids across the country are getting busted for operating lemonade stands without a permit. We’re taking the lead to #SaveLemonadeStands by paying for kids’ fines + permits this year. For every RT this gets we’ll donate $1 (up to $500,000) to help kids next year + beyond.
— CountryTime (@CountryTime) June 7, 2018
Photos: Facetime, Twitter, Country Time Lemonade