DENVER (WSVN) — A lemonade company is offering to help kids who are fined or forced to pay permit fees for their lemonade stands.
Food giant Kraft Heinz, which owns the Country Time Lemonade brand, has launched their “Legal-Ade” website with the goal of “taking a stand for lemonade stands.”
“We recently came across a story of a kid getting her lemonade stand shut down for legal reasons, which had to be an urban myth. After looking into it and seeing even more instances, we realized these weren’t myths, they were real stories,” Adam Butler, general manager for beverage and nuts for Kraft Heinz, told Fox Business.
It came about following an incident over Memorial Day weekend, where vendors at a Denver arts festival called the police on three young children who were trying to raise money for charity with a lemonade stand. The vendors complained that the three boys, ages 2 to 6, were undercutting their prices.
KMGH reports that police shut the stand down because the boys did not have a temporary vending permit.
“My boys were crushed. They were devastated,” mom Jennifer Knowles told the station. “I can’t believe that happened. I remember as a child I always had lemonade stands and never had to worry about being shut down by the police officers. I mean that’s unheard of.”
Although the city later said the children did not need a permit, the story caught the attention of Country Time, who started their “Legal-Ade” initiative in response.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kocQvvKoyg4
The company says if a child is fined or must pay a permit fee for a lemonade stand, they will cover the costs up to $300.
“Any child fined for running a lemonade stand without a permit can have his or her parent apply for reimbursement. To apply, simply upload the image of your child’s permit or fine along with a description of what your lemonade stand means to your child, in his or her own words,” the company said in a statement.
Each submission will be reviewed, and if it complies, the company says it will issue a check covering the costs.
“Life doesn’t always give you lemons, but when it does, you should be able to make and share lemonade with the neighborhood without legal implications,” the website states.
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