Since its founding in 2022, Tom D’Ambrosio (left) and Kyle Hollenbeck have grown their locally owned AZ Lemonade Stand company by leaps and bounds (submitted photo).

When the pandemic hit in 2020, many small businesses had to take the proverbial “lemon” thrown at them and try to make lemonade, but the team behind AZ Lemonade Stand, Tom D’Ambrosio and Kyle Hollenbeck, took the challenge literally. Their story, however, began years prior.

“We’ve been putting lemonade in a jar for over a decade,” Hollenbeck told us when we caught up with the duo in late August. “We used to do it for our food truck, Aioli Burger, and then Modern Tortilla. We always loved lemonade, and Chef Tom always had some amazing different flavor profiles that we would do.

“We started really getting more into it in 2020 when we got a contract with Fry’s (Kroger) to put an Aioli Burger inside their grocery store. We thought, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be millionaires selling burgers via Fry’s.’ Unfortunately, the pandemic hit. Also, it’s hard to eat a burger while you are grocery shopping. But the world works in mysterious ways, so we’re very fortunate that they told us we had to put something in the cold case. So, we started putting lemonade in there. And then once we saw that was the hot seller, Tommy’s awesome lemonade concoction, we were making over 15 flavors and we said, ‘Let’s put a brand behind it,’ and that’s where AZ Lemonade Stand came about.”

The brand hit the market in 2022, and they sold 1,698 jars of lemonade, mainly through their food trucks and at Aioli Gourmet Burgers. By the end of 2023, total sales skyrocketed to 489,000 jars. Today, at the two-year mark, the company is on track to finish 2024 with one million jars sold. Their products are now available in over 1,000 retail locations across Arizona, and they recently signed a distribution deal with Hensley Beverage Company, which will further accelerate their brand growth across Arizona.

Both natives of Phoenix, the duo first met in middle school, “Tommy was selling duct tape wallets, and I was selling candy,” Hollenbeck said. “I think we joined forces a few times back then.” And in the decade-plus that they have work together professionally, they have launched nearly a dozen food truck concepts, two commercial kitchen commissaries, three restaurant locations, and most recently, became the official concessions partner of the Phoenix Rising.

But AZ Lemonade Stand “really brings us back to the roots of being an entrepreneur,” D’Ambrosio said. “Kyle and I both had lemonade stands as our first business. So it’s neat to kind of get back to the roots of when we were kids. You know, falling in love with handling customers and trying to get community involvement and bring people in.”

Over the years, they have both learned lessons about the life of an entrepreneur, mainly, the importance of being able to adapt.

“You are always going to get thrown a curveball,” D’Ambrosio said, “and the quicker that you can adapt and change to the situation that you’re in, the faster you’ll be able to come out of it, and maybe with new products that might even be better than what you through were going to be the winner.”

Hollenbeck agrees, “Tommy hit the nail on the head. It’s adapt and then evolve.”

To learn more about the company, visit www.azlemonadestand.com.