Haymarket Fresh

I started my first lemonade stand after I turned 30.

My childhood friend and his wife started a new farmer's market down in Wilmington, Delaware in May of 2025. Max and Katie Kutler filled a community need with the Brandywine Farmer's Market. Me and a couple of buddies went down to help support them on their opening day.

It was a glorious day, there were multiple farmers selling lettuce, tomatoes, fruits, veggies. There were vendors selling bone broth and freshly cut steaks. One vendor was selling bouquets of flowers. Another was selling beef jerky. Crab cakes. Sourdough bagels. Croissants.

Opening day was a beautiful day. It was a warm one, but there was something missing from the lineup... no refreshments. Katie jokingly turned to me and my buddy Erik Headley suggesting that we should sell lemonade.

We looked at each other and said, why not?

In under a week, we mobilized and had a stand setup in no time. We had Gemini whip up a logo and started running with Haymarket Fresh.

We had a hunch that mixing drinks on the fly — ice, water, lemon juice, and simple syrup — would turn heads as the rocks crashed against the sides of the shaker bottle and boy we were right. We sold ourselves short and sold out with about an hour left in the market.

With each week, we improved one piece of the process. Restaurant Depot for bulk purchases — that place is crazy — which did wonders for our margins. We rearranged our prep station for a smoother setup. We added fresh squeezed OJ to the menu which helped with some 9AM sales. We started experimenting with a strawberry puree as a mix-in to the base lemonade, absolute hit.

This was not how I expected to spend every Saturday morning of my summer. I'm very glad we did it. We made some money, treated ourselves to many rounds of post-market golf, and spent a ton of great time together.

You're never too old for your first lemonade stand.