Meet the Boulder kids who turned their lemonade stand into a thriving business

It’s 9 AM on a Saturday. Most kids are still asleep, but on the corner of N 49th and Oxford Road, the “Early Bird Eats” farm stand is opening its window. There’s a microwave humming, a coffee maker dripping, and the constant click of a hole-puncher hitting a loyalty card.

Behind the counter is is Adler Jacobs. He is 13. His brother, Devin, is 11. They have turned their countryside snack stand into a legitimate business.

“I’ve been noticing how many bikers and runners and other athletes come by,” said Adler. “And I thought that it would be cool; it would be a good business to start. If we start something that was like a stand where bikers and runners, and other athletes can come by and get drinks, gels, and other snacks.”

They started with two folding tables in January, but now they have a permanent trailer they helped build. And they aren’t just reselling grocery store snacks. They sell primarily local products — like honey from Nimbus Road Apiary in Longmont, ice cream from Eats & Sweets, and sandwiches from Schlop Stop.

They even have a partnership with Skratch Labs, and serve a signature limeade made by a local mother and daughter. Managing all these vendors takes a team. Devin handles the iPad transactions and the cash, while Adler handles the stock.

“My brother, Devin, uses the square and operates like and operates all the money, usually, and checks people out, and I usually get the food and snacks and drinks and different things for them,” said Adler.

But they aren’t doing this all completely on their own. Their friend, 14-year-old Will Hampton, helps out at the stand. He says he’s been hustling on his own for a long time.

Last year, Will bought a Ford truck with the money he saved from his previous side jobs. He actually bought it before he was even old enough to drive it. Now, he’s using his shifts at the stand to bankroll his next goal — launching a lawn care business this summer.

Adler and Devin’s dad, Vance, is usually nearby at the farmhouse, but he lets them run their farm stand business.

“I’m very, very proud of the boys, you know, having grown up on a farm,” he said. “You know, this isn’t their first experience working hard.”

He’s been impressed by their discipline, especially since they’ve worked through the winter and have learned valuable lessons.

“They started in January, and I think they’ve only not done maybe one full weekend and maybe a day because of weather,” said Vance. “So, you know they are working about eight hours a day, both Saturdays and Sundays.”

Ellie Newman and Gage Honeggar are training for a marathon. They were running by when they stopped for a break.

“People really care about where their food comes from these days,” said Newman. As you should, you know — like eating less processed food and eating food that’s from a farm that’s nutrient-dense. And you can actually see the process of it. I think people really appreciate.”

And she’s right. A 2025 survey by Provoke Insights of 1,500 people found that almost half of all shoppers now say “locally grown” is the number one thing they look for.

Honeggar says the kids’ independent spirit is really important. “I think this is just like such a beautiful thing, because it’s like, it’s like so self-starter, so independent,” he said.

Erick Mueller, the executive director of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at CU Boulder, says the boys are displaying exactly what he looks for in his students.

“In our entrepreneurial mind, it’s sort of to see a lot of that resilience, a lot of that bias toward action, a lot of that, you know, piloting something and seeing if it works. And then if it does, you grow it to the next level,” said Mueller.

Mueller says that while textbooks are great for theory, they can’t replicate the “street smarts” the boys are gaining by managing inventory and handling customers.

“You learn by doing, and they’re learning more by doing than any student that might be in a traditional classroom,” he said.

That is the most inspiring part of the story Mueller says about these boys. You can read these things in a book, but you won’t really learn anything until you have experienced it.

Looking at these guys, it is easy to forget they’re still just middle schoolers. For 11-year-old Devin, the stand is a mix of work, fun, and future planning.

“It’s fun doing it, and I love trying to make money and work,” said Devin. “People like it when there’s kids…but I’ll try to use information and what we learned from this in the future.”

So next time you’re on a run or bike ride on the dirt roads north of Boulder, look for the trailer on the corner of 49th and Oxford Road. The next generation of business is already open.