Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Imani M-Glover. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Imani, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Imani M-Glover is the founder and CEO of The Lemonade Bar. She has always had an entrepreneurial spirit since she was a young girl. In high school, she wanted to afford things like playing basketball, cheerleading, and attending prom, so she came up with a plan to sell homemade popcorn balls. She would sell out every single popcorn ball by second period and deposit her earnings after school. Selling came naturally to Imani.

In her third year of marriage, Imani’s husband invested in a hotdog cart. They tried to make it successful but it didn’t go well. However, they didn’t give up. They decided to incorporate fresh squeezed organic lemonade, which became a big hit. Eventually, the lemonade outsold the hotdogs, and they dropped the hotdogs to focus on The Lemonade Bar. By 2018, The Lemonade Bar had become a full-fledged business. And that brings us to today!

Imani, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

The Lemonade Bar is a business based in the Oakland-San Francisco Ca Bay Area. We specialize in making fresh squeezed lemonade and organic handcrafted frozen lemonades. Our creative team loves coming up with exciting new flavors to delight your taste buds. You can find us at farmers markets, weddings, graduations, parties, and other events. We take pride in using organic ingredients sourced from local farmers in our community. Imani loves to meet and socialize with her customers to continue to learn more about her target ideal customer.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

During the challenging times of the COVID-19 pandemic, we faced the risk of losing our business. However, we refused to give up and instead decided to pivot our approach. We came up with an innovative idea to bottle our lemonade and package our frozen lemonade in ice cream containers, creating a sorbet-like treat. Our customers absolutely loved it because the frozen lemonades were manufactured in our commercial kitchen, significantly reducing their wait time.

In the early days of our lemonade business, we used to make the frozen lemonade on-site, which often resulted in long wait times of up to an hour as we blended it fresh for each customer. However, by adapting and transitioning to a more efficient manufacturing process, we were able to overcome this challenge and provide a better experience for our customers.

This story highlights our resilience and ability to think creatively in the face of adversity. By finding a solution that not only addressed the limitations imposed by the pandemic but also improved our overall operations, we were able to not only survive but thrive during those difficult times.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

One of the key factors that helped us build our reputation within our market is our unwavering commitment to integrity. We firmly believe in doing what is right for our customers and standing by our brand values.

An example of this integrity-driven approach occurred when we were vending at a large concert arena. We were told that our prices were too high by the company taking a significant portion (40%) of our earnings. However, instead of compromising on the quality of our ingredients or lowering our standards, I had a conversation with the venue manager. I explained that we couldn’t lower our prices because we use organic locally grown ingredients, which come at a higher cost. The manager then suggested that we don’t use organic ingredients, but I made it clear that it was not something we could compromise on.

We firmly stood by our brand and our commitment to providing customers with the best possible products. To this day, we continue to avoid using artificial colors or corn syrups in our lemonades. Each container and bottle is crafted with love and care, reflecting our dedication to delivering a high-quality and authentic experience to our customers.

By upholding our integrity and refusing to compromise on our values, we have built a reputation as a trustworthy and reliable brand within our market. Customers appreciate our commitment to using organic ingredients and providing them with a genuine product that they can enjoy and value. A few of our fan favorite flavors are our organic strawberry lemonade and we source our strawberries from the Hayward Farmers Market and our organic lavender lemonade we source this from Sacramento and the Los Angeles area.

Contact Info:

• Website: thelemonadebar.org
• Instagram: @the_lemonadebar
• Facebook: The Lemonade Bar
• Twitter: thelemonadebar1
• Youtube: The Lemonade Bar

Image Credits
Pata Ali & Imani M-Glover