How a South Shore teen entrepreneur's new business found its sweet spot
HALIFAX − Everybody knows what it takes to make a lemonade stand, but Jordiss Fabrowski turned the coming-of-age classic into much more than a folding table in front of her house.
At Pucker Up Lemonade, Jordiss has a compressor for smashing the freshest lemons she can find, a commercial slicer for efficiency, a dozen syrups for extra flavor and the bright smile of someone who is making her dreams come true.
“It’s been a lot of learning. I’d never really worked as hard as I had before this,” Jordiss, 16, said. “I thought, ‘This will be scary, but it will set me up for the future and teach me so many things.’”
Jordiss opened Pucker Up Lemonade in a refurbished horse trailer she turned into a makeshift beverage kitchen. After four months of renovations, the trailer has hardwood floors, turf on the walls and a raw-wood serving bar. She drives her trailer to the Hingham Farmers Market, The Farmers Market at Rye Tavern in Plymouth, concerts and horse shows.
Once parked, the trailer turns into a wet bar on wheels where Jordiss has lemonade-making down to a science. She slices the fresh fruit using a commercial slicer, crushes the lemons in a 32-ounce deli container and then adds sugar or optional flavors such as strawberry, watermelon, peach and blackberry. The drink is then mixed with sparkling or still water in the container, a straw is poked through the lid and it's handed straight to the customer.
“Everything is made inside the cup so no ingredients are lost,” she said. “Customers can hear the noises, see the chopping and the crushing. … The kids are my favorite part. Hearing them react to the ‘bucket of lemonade’ is always funny.”
Jordiss has mixed a few signature concoctions − the “Summer Solstice” has passionfruit, raspberry and peach, and the “Fruit & Berry Shakeup” is made with passionfruit and blackberry − but customers are welcome to dream up their own favorite combination. Her personal favorite is a passionfruit and strawberry combo.
“It’s real, fresh, homemade lemonade, which is really hard to get these days,” she said.
A Halifax resident who takes online classes, Jordiss said her venture has allowed her to work for herself and learn many of the skills she needs to run the business with little help from her parents − including designing her logo, building a website and fixing any problems with the trailer. Her dad was her first investor, but Jordiss plans to pay him back before the end of the summer.
“It’s amazing to me,” said Renee Fabrowski, Jordiss’ mother. “I’m just so proud of her. I’m not the kind of person who would just jump into this, but I’m happy to be along for the ride.”
For now, Jordiss said she’s focused on having a fun summer and fine-tuning her business model. In the long run, she hopes to have multiple trucks running at a time with the help of a few employees.
Pucker Up will be at the Hingham Farmers Market from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, and at West Bridgewater Park Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10.
Still “buckets” of lemonade cost $6, and sparkling costs $7.
Uniquely Local is a series of stories by Mary Whitfill highlighting the South Shore's farmers, bakers and makers. Have a story idea? Reach Mary at mary@maryloveslocal.com.
This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: 16-year-old's lemonade stand made from former horse trailer
