Lemon Shake-ups
Lemon shake-ups were part of my summer as a youth. These drinks were never something we made at home but were available at the county fair or the state fair in Du Quoin. Different than your normal lemonade, these drinks were concocted using real lemons, squeezed down to a pulp, water, lots of sugar and ice. The ingredients were then shaken up and poured into a glass, including the lemon peels. Sometimes the drinks were tart, sometimes they were super sweet, but one drink never seemed to be enough.
Recently my granddaughters were inspired to try and get into the retail business in our neighborhood. An errant flyer prepared by some neighbor kids, promoting the sale of jewelry, made my granddaughters want to try their own venture
My wife convinced them that a lemonade stand might be more successful than trying to sell kids used jewelry. My wife believes that any product you sell needs to be high quality, so instead of mixing up Wyler’s Instant Lemonade, she sold my granddaughters on the idea of selling lemon shake-ups.
Research on YouTube was utilized to find the perfect method to make lemon shake-ups. The method used at the Iowa State Fair was the winner.
Prior to putting the product out for sale, extensive work was done in our test kitchen. Critical to the successful lemon shake-up was the need to ensure that ALL the sugar was mixed in the drink. After several tries, as well as a couple of visits to Wal Mart for the proper tools, the lemon shake-up product was perfected.
It was suggested by my wife that instead of a trying to sell the lemon shake-ups for profit, the proceeds should go to a charity. With Memorial Day approaching, it was decided that The Wounded Warrior Project would get all the proceeds from the sale.
Props were created and plans set for our granddaughters to set-up their stand at a nearby bike/walking trail. We even got high-tech and set-up a way for folks to pay us on Venmo.
The day arrived today and for two hours, we had our tables set and we sold several lemon shake-ups, with several nice folks agreeing to more than our retail price. The mixing of the drinks is still a work in progress, as a few patrons noted the drink was a bit tart and lots of sugar was found at the bottom of the cup.
Final total for the day was $54 raised, including some funds from the lemon shake-up sponsors who needed a refreshing drink.
Other days will come when the stand will be set-up in other locations, hopefully with even more sales. But more important, our granddaughters got the opportunity to get a bit of history in making the lemon shake-ups.