Of summer and lemonade

This vacation, we won't be travelling anywhere, and we opted out of keeping busy with summer camps. Except for one that will be held in May over a period of two weeks, at the school.

So the plan was to read a lot, practice our music, have meaningful social interaction with friends, ditto at home, do all the art and craft that we wanted to do all year, but couldn't due to more pressing matters, follow-up a bit on school work done in the past and to be done in the future- in short, just chill.

After two weeks of chilling out, A and a friend in the complex came up with the idea of some enterprise- they decided to cash in on the extraordinarily hot summer for my city, and put up a lemonade stall for an hour everyday.

We decided to use this as a learning opportunity while having fun. So the girls first did a market research. Facilitated by me.

First to decide on the days, time and place. After much scouting around and discussion, the girls decided on a week, everyday in the evening from 5.30 to 7, next to our clubhouse. The idea was to keep it to a manageable number of days, and to catch the crowd that mills around playing or swimming in the pool.

Then they made a poster (they spent the whole afternoon one day doing it in summery colours) and put it up on the main complex notice board.

Then we decided on a recipe for the lemonade. One that would minimize work and serving time at the stall.

Squeeze out the lemon juice and strain it. Measure it.
For every measure of juice, take three measures of sugar, in a thick bottomed vessel.
Pour in water just enough to cover the sugar. Heat, stirring till the sugar dissolves. Bring to boil, and let it boil hard for a minute or so.
Take off as much of the greyish froth that comes up and discard. This contains most of the impurities in the sugar. Switch off the heat.
Let the sugar syrup cool for a few minutes. Not too much, or it will start re-crystallizing. Pour in the lemon juice and stir to mix well. Add a bit of salt. (This is to taste.) Your lemonade concentrate is ready.
Cool completely and pour into bottles to store in the refrigerator. It will stay unspoiled in there upto a month.
While serving, pour a large tablespoonful in the glass, add water, stir. Add optionals like ice cubes, flavouring (we decided on offering a choice between ginger powder, black salt, chat masala, elaichi powder, jeera powder and original), and your lemonade is ready!

We then went to different shops and compared prices of lemons, sugar and paper cups. We decided on paper cups as a mean between convenience (we did not have enough washable ones- which would also need to be washed every time, with possible hygiene problems) and environmental consciousness (no disposable plastic. Although paper cups also have a minus, they are at least biodegradable! ) and bought from a place that gave us the lowest price with a fair quality. Flavourings were at hand at home, so I decided not to add them to our costs. (Maybe next time I will!)

So the stuff was bought after costing was done, and the concentrate was made under adult supervision. I went with them to the shops, cut the lemons open and boiled the syrup. Everything else was managed by the two.

So they were all set with bottles of chilled water, lemonade concentrate, paper cups, small boxes of flavourings, ice cubes in an ice box, a bunch of spoons to measure out and stir, a money box with some change for the customers, a notebook to make tally marks in. Each glass was to be sold at Rs 5.

Day 1: Novelty is king. Many people came over to check out the lemonade and had at least one glass. Some gamely tried (this group includes us parents and parents of friends) each flavour in turn. The first day was a success.

Day 2: Some more of those who had not had any turned up. There were those from the children in the age range 6yrs- 14yrs who came again. One of the boys appointed himself 'the marketing man' after negotiating with the girls for a free glass every day. Also, every 100th glass was declared to be 'on the house.'

Some feedback came in the form of- keep a larger glass option too, and service should be a bit faster.

Day 3: Time to act on the feedback. We got a set of slightly larger paper cups, and kept them as an option for Rs 8. Also, some bottles of ready to pour out lemonade was kept, to be dispensed when a large crowd cam all at once. Fairly good sale, but not so much as the first two days. Fewer of the grown-ups came, though there was one couple who came every day. The 100th glass was dispensed to one of the kids who was a 'regular.'

Day 4: No adults, except said couple and doting parents. The crowd of children, though hung around from the beginning to the end, digging into their pocket money for repeated cups in different flavours and socializing. It was a party atmosphere.

Day 5: Ditto day 4. This time, the girls put on another offer. Anyone who wanted to take home some lemonade for their family was to get their own bottle. A half litre bottle would hold 3 glasses and cost Rs 15. A one litre bottle holding 6 glasses would get a volume discount @ Rs 25.

A few children got bottles, and the sale became a bit more brisk. The 200th glass was dispensed.

Day 6: It started raining in earnest from 3pm, and the girls were worried, as the stall was held in the open. They discussed the possibility of putting up a notice that the stall would be held the next morning if it did not stop raining. An idea that was finally shot down. It was decided to hold shop just inside the clubhouse, sheltered from the rain.

The discussions delayed things a bit, and by the time the girls reached the clubhouse with their stuff, there was already a crowd waiting.

Sale- ditto day 5. The idea of bottles caught on really well, and they sold more bottles than individual glasses. Even the children who wanted to drink right there and socialize now bought half litre bottles and stood around guzzling from them. Some adults too returned.

Day 7: The shopkeepers declared at the beginning that it was the last day, and anyone who wanted to buy should do so at the earliest, before stock finished. The news spread around the kid grapevine, and friends' friends also came. A veritable social network was in action. We were sold out within the first half hour, and there was a clamour for more. Maybe some other time.

The girls put in their own pocket money as capital- Rs 250 each. At the end of the week, the profit was Rs 152 each. Not bad.

A good lesson in costing, sale, market dynamics, social networking, mutual cooperation (the girls did not see eye-to-eye on all things and there was a lot of negotiation), basic calculations, (calculating the change to be given to customers) time management, handling pressure and customer feedback, and a lot else.

A lot of fun, too.