Lemonade stands aren't just for kids looking to make a few bucks selling cups to neighbors from the front yard. Chattanoogans Michael and Beth Miller of Miller's Original Lemonade recently surpassed $1 million in lemonade sales at the Chattanooga Market.
The achievement was marked by the presentation of a commemorative banner, along with a metal lemon sculpture designed by a fellow market vendor that reads, "Squeezed Out a Million."
"It's really heavy," Miller says of the sculpture, which he affectionately dubbed "Lemmy the Lemon."
Miller got his start as a food vendor slinging sausages, but he felt he could do lemonade better and wanted to sell something that produced less waste. So in the summer of 1993, he launched Miller's Original Lemonade.
"Back in the day, there weren't enough events in Chattanooga to really make a living doing something like this," says Miller, who used to travel around the region to peddle his lemonade in cities such as Knoxville, Nashville and Birmingham.
Miller has been a mainstay at the Chattanooga Market since it started in 2001, and the popular weekly event garners enough sales that he no longer has to hit the road every weekend in search of thirsty customers. He also sells his refreshing beverages at Finley Stadium during Chattanooga Football Club and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga games.
He credits the quality and consistency of his lemonade for its continued popularity among regulars who visit the stand nearly every week.
"I've got a little different recipe, too," he says. "People have tried to imitate it and haven't been able to."
Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / Mike and Beth Miller talk to a customer at the Chattanooga Market at First Horizon Pavilion.Miller also insists that none of his business success would be possible without the dedicated folks who pump out fresh lemonade along with him, as well as the staff and directors of the Chattanooga Market.
In addition to the fresh-squeezed variety, the Millers also offer frozen lemonade and strawberry- and coconut- flavored frozen lemonade. The strawberry lemonade was their first foray into frozen drinks and continues to be the most popular offering.
"The strawberry lemonade was something nobody else was really doing at the time," says Miller, who saw that as an opportunity to get into the frozen drink business. "So far, it's stuck. Everybody likes it, and I have repeat business."
His lemonade is so popular, in fact, that Miller estimates that they go through as many as 7,000 lemons during the course of the market season, which runs from late April through November.
Hitting the million-dollar mark is a big milestone for any company, especially a family-run small business like this one. The Millers are excited about their accomplishment but hope that everyone knows that making a million bucks doesn't mean that they're jetting off to the Bahamas or buying a Ferrari. Most of the money they've earned goes right back toward the expenses of running the business.
Making lemonade is a full-time job for Miller. Since the market is a Sunday event, his workweek runs from Thursday to Monday, during which he spends countless hours prepping for a busy day at the lemonade stands. His many tasks include "bookkeeping, unloading, repairing, cleaning, taking inventory, picking up products, organizing, loading and checking the weather," among other preparations, he says.
Miller isn't sure when he'll retire, but after spending 30-plus years with his weekends entirely devoted to lemons, he's excited to have the opportunity to make other plans.
Find Miller's Original Lemonade stands at both the front and back of the First Horizon Pavilion on Sundays at the Chattanooga Market.
Did You Know?
- California and Arizona produce 95% of the U.S. lemon crop.
- A single lemon tree can produce up to 500-600 pounds of lemons in a year.
- In 2022, the global lemonade industry was worth between $5 billion and $8.7 billion.
- Some lemon trees can live as long as 100 years.
- Pink lemonade was created in the 1800s by a circus worker.
- Unlike many states, Tennessee doesn't require children to have a permit to operate a lemonade stand on private property, as long as the child makes less than $3,000 a year.