Grandma Val takes lemon, makes lemonade; but with NVA’s help, a new business is born

“Her vision to take her product to wholesale embodies one of the NVA’s biggest goals, and that is to help grow scalable businesses right here in Alabama.” — Ayshia Green-Calloway, program manager, New Venture Accelerator 

By Troy Turner 

Not every grandmother opens a lemonade stand, invents a different flavor to celebrate the birth of each grandchild, or walks into the kitchen and comes out with a new dish like the “tornado potato,” but Grandma Val does. 

And now thanks to a partnership with the New Venture Accelerator at Auburn University, Grandma Val is a real grandmother turned real entrepreneur, and she’s proving to be a big hit with her fast-growing base of admiring customers. 

“Not only is she an incredibly successful entrepreneur, but she helps everybody she meets,” marveled Ward Swift, an Entrepreneur in Residence for the New Venture Accelerator, which is a program jointly managed by Auburn’s Harbert College of Business and the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation to help aspiring business owners get their start. 

Canady is a native of LaGrange, Ga., and today resides in Opelika, where she has developed a booming business with her multi-flavored lemonade sales that moved from push cart to big yellow tent, and more recently to the inclusion of a seasonal business in a bright, yellow-painted store front next to a bustling RV park on Highway 14 west along the outskirts of Auburn going toward Loachapoka. 

It’s easy to spot her building; it has Grandma Val’s written on the front wall along with a big smiling face painted as her logo. 

It all started, she said, at a church gathering. Everyone always asked her to bring her homemade blends of lemonade, and then one day someone told her, “you need to be selling your lemonade.” 

The seed was planted. 

‘I sold out of everything!’

Canady sat down recently on a warm spring day, turned on the floor fan sitting beside her, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. She was tired. 

“I just came from catering an event at Southern Union Community College,” she said. “They had told me I’d probably sell about 50 lemonade servings,” which, considering she makes each one separately by hand with carefully selected fruit she picks out herself, is quite a bit of work. 

“Instead of 50, I sold 150,” she said with a big Grandma Val grin. “I completely sold out!” 

As if to echo her reference to such customer demand, someone knocked at the front window of her storefront as she was speaking, even though her shop was closed. “Are you selling lemonade today?” a young girl asked through the window screen. 

“Not today, hon, I’m closed and don’t have anything made,” Canady replied, much to the disappointment of the desiring customer. 

“I meant to bring you one too!” she told her interviewer. “I’m sorry. I sold out of everything!” 

Canady reflected on the origins of her business and the hard work she is having to put into it to grow toward her goals. 

“My culture brought me up to survive, to meet my needs,” she said, and she put that background to work for many years as a family advocate working with children on behavior issues, among other things, including a stint with the Opelika school system. Other jobs included work as a manager of a day care center, and she continues as a volunteer family advocate. 

She realized, however, that she wanted to do more, including her desire to meet and serve others. Her lemonade seemed like a good answer, but she needed help. 

She was inspired by a speaker she heard with the Circles of Opelika program, which is sponsored by the Envision Opelika Foundation and assists in reducing the number of families living in poverty. 

The speaker asked, “do you want to continue just to survive, or thrive?” she recalled. “Something in me said I’ve got to come out of poverty.” 

She had asked God for longevity, children and grandchildren, and having gained those requests, she wanted more to share with them and teach them. Perhaps hard work put into starting a new business would provide that, she reasoned. 

Then she was introduced to the New Venture Accelerator program at Auburn, something she attributes to nothing short of answered prayers. 

The tornado potato

“I didn’t know what all I had to do to start a business, until I was in it too deep and started swimming,” Canady said. “There were taxes, insurance, permits; all kinds of things. 

“I had never experienced any of that before,” she said. “I was a busy grandma on the go!” 

Ayshia Green-Calloway, program manager at New Venture Accelerator, said Canady’s ambition, drive and hard work make her a great example of the aspiring entrepreneurs the program is designed to help. 

“She is a new business that is easy to get behind. I admire her openness to critiques and her willingness to learn new things,” Green-Calloway said. “She is driven to do what it takes to take her business to the next level… She takes advantage of every resource offered to her and seeks ways to help the other business owners around her.” 

Canady does indeed have taking her business “to the next level” on her mind. 

Lemonade lovers might be happy to know that she already has 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, meaning that many flavors – and then some. She is expanding her menu of various fruit and other taste combinations, but she also is looking to add a deli-type menu that will feature sandwiches and variety, like one of her fan favorites: the tornado potato. 

“I take an Idaho potato, make it into a spiral; deep fried; and spice with various flavors,” she said, hoping to have it on the menu when her storefront opens on a more routine basis this coming autumn for football season and the busiest time at the RV park next door. 

The New Venture Accelerator makes it possible to believe she can make her dream business come to life, Canady said. 

“I have an ally. They’re like a mentor, so they help me find what I need,” she said. “I have a media team! I’m dotting all my ‘I’s and crossing all my ‘T’s. 

“Getting into the NVA program was the best thing that ever could have happened for me.” 

She quickly impressed Green-Calloway, who also noticed Canady serving as an inspiration. 

“Meeting Grandma Val made me realize that there is nothing we can’t do if we are willing to put in the work. She is retired and over 60 starting a business that will create a legacy for her grandchildren,” Green-Calloway said. “I am anxious to see Grandma Val’s Lemonade move to the next level. The success of this business would send multiple messages. 

“Her success would speak to the ability of older adults to start and lead a successful business, contribute to the diversity of the Lee County entrepreneurial ecosystem, illustrate the ability to escape the poverty mindset and move toward generational wealth, and ignite the ability to maintain a successful business.” 

Making it a ministry 

Meanwhile, the chairs sitting in the lawn out front of Grandma Val’s aren’t just for customers to enjoy their purchased treats. Canady says she hears all kinds of stories from some of her guests, ranging from dealing with tough financial situations to battling cancer, so she often asks, “may I sit and pray with you?” 

She says her ministry, in addition to the hard-working example she wants to be seen as a lesson for her children and grandchildren, is a major factor in her work and what she sees as her success. 

“I love it. You can tell, can’t you?” she asked with her Grandma Val smile. “I pray with a lot of people. I love giving hope. It makes ME feel better.” 

Such is the life of this “grandma on the go.” 

Follow Grandma Val on Instagram HERE and on Facebook HERE 

To learn more about the New Venture Accelerator, visit https://nva.auburn.edu/