Interview: Lori Volk of LORI'S ORIGINAL LEMONADE

Lori's Original Lemonade Chief Believer and Founder, Lori Volk created her signature drink, Lavender Lemonade for her children's lemonade stand years ago in Ojai, CA.

Out of financial necessity to defray mounting college debt for her three children, Volk turned to bottle her lemonade commercially in Feb 2011. Organic, quality and freshness were keys to creating her lemonade. In addition to the Lavender Lemonade, the line also offers a popular sweet and spicy Ginger Lemonade and a cool and refreshing Lemongrass Lite Lemonade. Lori works closely with the community and is actively involved in fundraising events for local organizations.

Lori is a graduate of California State University Channel Islands with a degree in Psychology and over 30 years in sales and marketing. In addition to being an entrepreneur, Lori is an accomplished athlete. In November 2012, Lori completed an Ironman triathlon in Arizona, a grueling 140.6-mile race. Lori is currently training for her first 50 mile Ultra Run September 2016. She is a recipient of NAWBO Ventura County's Business Woman Owner of the Year 2014 and Pacific Coast Business Times, Top 50 Women in Business 2015.

Most recently, Lori's Original Lemonade announced that their Organic Lavender Lemonade has won the BevStar 2016 "Best in Show" and the "Gold" Award in the juice category presented by Beverage World Magazine's Worldwide competition. The prestigious Beverage World award bases their judging criteria on product taste, ingredients, packaging, market positioning and uniqueness.

Lori's Original Lemonade can be found in more than 400 locations primarily in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Kansas, Oklahoma and Alaska. It can be found in Whole Foods, Gelson's, Bristol Farms, Lassen's, select Vons and Albertsons, numerous local independent natural foods stores and cafes.

Lori's motto, "Wish it, Dream it, Do it" hopes to inspire others to follow their dreams. Lori and her husband Tom live aboard their sailboat in Southern California.

Broadwayworld.com had the opportunity to interview Lori Volk about Lori's Original Lemonade.

When did you realize that you had a great product?

From the very first time we made our lemonade and served it to our kids, friends and family. But, when I realized that we had something really great was when we started getting into the major retailers and watched people's happy expressions when they tasted our lemonades and finally when we won Best Beverage 2016 by Beverage World Magazine.

What have been some of your customer's reactions?

The best is when people taste it for the first time! Their eyes light up and they say "Wow, that's amazing, that's the best lemonade" sometimes it brings them back to a childhood memory.

As an athlete, why do you think Lori's Lemonade is especially refreshing?

Our Lemongrass Lite is especially refreshing after a long trail run. Last summer I was training for an event and left a cooler filled with iced cold lemonades at the trail head in Ojai for people to take after the end of their hike during the hot summer. Every time the cooler was empty when we returned :)

What foods do you like to pair Lori's Lemonade with?

We love Mexican food with our lemonades!

For the future?

We are launching our new Wild Strawberry with real organic strawberries and Lemon Love, our take on the classic lemonade.

Anything else, absolutely anything you want our BWW readers to know.

Our lemonades are great mixers!

For more information visit www.LorisOriginalLemonade.com and where to find Lori's Original Lemonade near you. You can also reach her at lori@lorisoriginallemonade.com.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lori's Lemonade

To post a comment, you must register and login.