Help for when kids squeezed by cops

Company steps up on issue of illicit lemonade stands

“When life gives you arcane laws, make lemonade.” And call Legal-Ade. That’s the message Kraft Heinz’s lemonade brand Country Time is selling to young entrepreneurs and their summertime businesses.

That would be: children and their lemonade stands.

And more specifically: children who get fined for running lemonade stands without a permit.

Take Autumn Thomasson, a 6-year-old California girl with long blonde hair and gold nailpolish.

“My lemonade stand got shut down because I didn’t have a permit,” Thomasson said in a Legal-Ade video. “It was unfair.”

Now, Country Time wants to assure Thomasson and all lemon squeezers under 5 feet tall that this summer, things will be different.

“We heard a couple of these stories happening and frankly, didn’t believe that they were real,” said Adam Butler, Kraft Heinz’s general manager for beverages and nuts. “You look into it and, wow, this is actually real. We huddled up and decided we’ve got to do something about this.”

It may be surprising to learn that in many cities and municipalities, lemonade stands aren’t supposed to set up shop on public sidewalks or roads without a permit, which often come with applications and fees. Police officers and local officials often give kids and their lemonade stands a pass — but not always.

Country Time’s solution is to reimburse children who have been fined for running a lemonade stand without a permit, or cover the cost of a permit already secured, until Aug. 31, or until $60,000 has been awarded. All a parent has to do is upload an image of the child’s fine or permit and, in the child’s own words, include a description of what the lemonade stands means to them.

Parents can report fines incurred in 2017 or 2018. Country Time was sure to note: the company is not providing any legal advice or services.

And for every retweet the Legal-Ade promotional video receives, Country Time will donate $1 to help bail out future kids in a squeeze. By Tuesday morning, the video had garnered 93,000 retweets.