Every year, young entrepreneurs across the country learn the value of a hard day’s work and earn their own money selling lemonade, a quintessential summer beverage. That idea, along with a desire for a cold glass of lemonade, inspired Clayton High School student Joel Zeid to come up with a new, do-it-yourself product, Lemonade Stand in a Box.
Made of recyclable paper, the stand was developed with the help of engineers at St. Louis’ Loy-Lange Box Co. The lemonade stand weighs in at less than 11 ½ pounds and is assembled with waterproof adhesive, so it can handle most abuse a young lemonade stand operator could put it through. Its white linerboard serves as a blank canvas, letting children create their own designs to market their lemonade.
In the spirit of entrepreneurship, Zeid launched a company to sell his product, Do It Yourself Toys. Lemonade Stand In a Box is currently available at Happy Up Toys in St. Louis and Edwardsville, Ill., and Imagination Toys in St. Louis.
This article appears in August 2013.