Shark Tank full of Austin lemonade

AUSTIN – BeeSweet Lemonade, an Austin-based startup run in part by ten-year-old Mikaila Ulmer, is the latest local company to appear on ABC’s “Shark Tank” business competition series.

The lemonade, which is made with flaxseed and local honey, is currently available at Whole Foods Market Inc. stores throughout the southwestern U.S., with 25,000 bottles sold last year.

Ulmer started the company with her family when she was four from a roadside lemonade stand.

Daymond John agreed to chip in $60,000 for a 25-percent stake in the business, contingent on him working out a distribution deal for the lemonade with some East Coast convenience stores.

“It was a fun experience and I got to meet these people that I never imagined I’d have the chance to,” Ulmer said. “When I was younger I thought [selling lemonade] would be something I’d do once and then drop it, but I didn’t realize how much fun it is to be an entrepreneur.”

BeeSweet has hired Austin ad agency Sanders/Wingo to handle its advertising program.

Read more at the Austin Business Journal.