Watch: ‘When life gives you lemons’, start a gourmet lemonade business

We don’t think there is a more infamous saying than “when life gives you lemons make lemonade,” with this metaphor having become a mantra for many. 

Beyonce knows this all too well as her successful album Lemonade detailing her husband’s infidelity, led to her winning several awards and topping the music charts. 

Kathleen Wolmarans also turned a sour situation into a budding business.

The owner of Life + Lemons = Lemonade started a lemonade business when she left the corporate world after 30 years. 

When she took the leap and left on an impulse, the former personal assistant wasn’t sure what she would do. However, in 2017, the universe intervened and led her on the path to her new career. 

Speaking to The Citizen, Wolmarans explains how a string of events starting with a 10-day silent meditation retreat in the Western Cape, where pictures of bottles and corks kept appearing in her mind, led to her budding new business venture.

WATCH: Kathleen Wolmarans on Life + Lemons = Lemonade

“When I went [back] home I opened my phone and the first thing I saw was, ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.’ I opened the Facebook app, and there it was again,” further detailing more weird occurrences where the saying “bombarded” her.

“Eventually after a few days, I thought let’s stop getting annoyed with this, [it means] the universe is trying to tell me something”.

Wolmarans then decided to Google how to make lemonade, which is how she started making the beverage.  

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At first, she posted her new passion on her Facebook account, and caught the attention of a new guest lodge owner in her area of Westdene, who wanted to sample her lemonade.

“After he and his staff tried the samples, I left there with an order of eight litres and with a new business.”

Word of mouth continued the growth, and the small business was given the opportunity to sell at The Playground, formerly known as Neighbourgoods Market, in Braamfontein, Johannesburg.

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A post shared by Kat Wolmarans (@life_plus_lemons)

Wolmarans does most of the packaging and marketing herself, and also makes the freshly squeezed gourmet lemonades.

The flavour on offer is old fashioned ginger beer, lemonade flavours such as classic lemonade, ginger and lemongrass, watermelon and mint, mango, granadilla, orange and sweet basil and a couple more. She prides herself on making them entirely from fresh ingredients. 

The lemonade business has helped her be more creative and experimental with the flavours. The lemonade business is now in the top market stalls in Linden, Braamfontein (The Playground) and Victoria Yards. 

What is in the lemonade?

Some of the lemonade has a cup ratio of freshly squeezed lemon juice, simple syrup (water and sugar) and fresh ingredients (lemongrass, mint, ginger etc).

The fresh fruits and ingredients are then cold-pressed, with some of the pulp added and left overnight to steep. 

The steeping process is important, as the contents are sifted through some fabric the next day.

Wolmarans says her most popular lemonades are lemongrass and ginger, and pineapple and mint, but that the top flavours depend on the markets she goes to.

“At Victoria Yards, the classic is the favourite and in Linden, the granadilla and pink lemonade is the favourite.”

So where to for Life + Lemons = Lemonade?

Wolmarans envisions her business being more functional having assistance from bottling machines to make her production on a bigger scale and less taxing.

She advises people to ignore the nay sayings when they want to start their own business – “you have a unique task in life, do it anyway”, she encouraged.