11-Year-Old Closes Lemonade Expansion Deal With Whole Foods
Mikaila Ulmer is clearly a businesswoman far beyond her years. At the age of 10, she appeared on ABC’s Shark Tank and sold 25 percent of her lemonade business to Daymond John, the founder and CEO of FUBU, for $60,000. Now, she’s signed off on an expansion deal that will see the business that combined her family’s lemonade recipe and her mission to save bees reach new heights.
According to the Root, Ulmer brokered a deal with Whole Foods to sell her lemonade on a regional level in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana locations. If all goes well, the next step would be to sell the product on a national scale.
“I became fascinated with bees,” Ulmer said in an interview with NBC BLK. “I learned all about what they do for me and our ecosystem. So then I thought, ‘What if I make something that helps honeybees and uses my Great-Granny Helen’s recipe?’ That’s how BeeSweet Lemonade was born. It comes from my Great-Granny Helen’s flaxseed recipe and my new love for bees. So that’s why we sweeten it with local honey. And today my little idea continues to grow,” Mikaila said.
To go along with her latest deal with Whole Foods, Ulmer also brokered a distribution deal with United Natural Foods. I can only imagine that Daymond John and everyone else at Shark Tank that played a role in Makaila’s success are through the roof with pride and excitement.
Photo Courtesy: Twitter
Yes! What an awesome story, what an awesome young lady 😀
I’m not just happy with her success, but where her heart was regarding the importance of keeping the bee population good. She’s an inspiration, or rather, I hope she becomes an inspiration to many.