On today’s Business Beat, Jeff talks to Bea Wolnerman of Bea’s Squeeze, a lemonade company that started in Eastern Market as a summer pop-up and is now available through retailers distributed in 25 states.
Tune in to the Business Beat, below, to learn more about Bea’s Squeeze and how you can build a brand that’s just as authentic and lovable:
“Look, if you develop a great product, if you love your product and if you come across as very authentic, the world will beat a path to your door and buy from you.”
– Jeff Sloan
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Good morning, Paul!
It’s Friday, and on Fridays, we’ve made a point of featuring really inspirational, feel-good stories about startups that are making it right here in our Detroit region. And on today’s Beat, we’ve got the story of Bea’s Squeeze, a company funded and operated by Bea Wolnerman. Now, this is a company started in Eastern Market in 2019 as a simple lemonade stand, but it’s a story of a company that’s now grown to be a thriving lemonade company brand distributed in 25 different states.
Let’s hear from Bea about her company and her journey to success.
So, hi, Jeff. My name is Bea Wolnerman, the owner and founder of Bea’s Squeeze Lemonade. We actually started with the smallest piece of land on Detroit’s urban pedestrian path at Dequindre Cut. It was this super cool, weird, trialed piece of land, and it was actually up a five-foot wall covered in weeds.
No surprise that nobody wanted it, but I actually saw the opportunity to turn a lemon piece of land into lemonade. It was just supposed to be a pop-up for the summer, just something fun, a unique way to interact with the Detroit community. But the lemonade company totally took off. We are now in retailers like Kroger, Meijer, BJ’s, a ton of independent markets, and we’re just really excited to see what this little lemonade stand can turn into. Our lemonade is completely natural. There’s no artificial ingredients, flavors, preservatives. We also have some unique flavors. Instead of going the traditional fruit route, we actually have pink rose and lavender, some other botanical varieties on the way. So, it’s something totally different than anything else out there.
So, Bea, what do you attribute the success you’ve had going from a lemonade stand at Eastern Market to be a thriving lemonade company brand distributed in 25 different states?
I’ve always been very driven and very determined to succeed, especially with this lemonade company. It’s something that I’m really passionate about. And I always say this lemonade is literally me in a bottle. You know, it’s happy. It’s fun. It’s just a really good brand.
So, not only is this a feel-good story. It’s a story we can learn from. Look, if you develop a great product, if you love your product and if you come across as very authentic, the world will beat a path to your door and buy from you.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
