Meet the 7-year-old entrepreneur running her own food truck
— -- A 7-year-old entrepreneur in Arkansas who ran a successful lemonade stand in her grandparent's backyard last year has upgraded this summer, and is now operating her own food truck with the help of her mother.
Kyleigh McGee, 7, of Little Rock, told ABC News that she came up with the idea to expand her business and make it mobile last summer when she was operating her original lemonade stand.
"We had a lemonade stand in my grandparents' backyard and we started to make a lot of money with it," Kyleigh said. "So I thought why don’t we have a lemonade stand to bring to events?"
Gabrielle Williams, Kyleigh's mother, told ABC News that they upgraded this year, after Kyleigh showed how dedicated she was to running her lemonade stand all summer long last year, telling ABC News, "She had so much fun with it and she had a chance to kind of get an idea of how it is to be an entrepreneur."
"We purchased what used to be a snow cone stand, and we converted it into a lemonade stand," Williams said, adding that they also expanded the menu to include ice cream, snacks and the incredibly popular pineapple snow cones, which are sold in a hollowed out pineapple.
Williams said that having Kyleigh operate the food truck is "teaching her responsibilities," including "how to save money and how to count money."
The rising second-grader said her favorite aspect of running her own business, is "being the boss and serving people food."
Williams added that the response from the community to Kyleigh's food truck has been overwhelming.
"Everyone is so excited, I have gotten so many phone calls, so many messages," Williams said. "It happened so fast ... the response we’ve gotten, I don’t think I was expecting that.
"Everybody's been going crazy about the pineapple snow cones with pineapple juice at the bottom," Williams added, saying that the lemonade also remains a crowd favorite, "everybody is saying, 'This is the best lemonade I have ever had.'"
Williams told ABC News that her daughter has shown an interest in food and cooking since she was very young, but she has also expressed interest in other fields.
"I’ve heard her say she wants to be a teacher, a doctor, a singer and a tennis player," the mother said. "I just tell her whatever you decide to do you have my support, 100 percent."
The mother added that the original plan was just to run the food truck while Kyleigh was out of school during summer vacation, but they have received bookings all the way through December, "so this will be open throughout the year now," she said.
Kyleigh added that she invites everyone in the Little Rock area to come try her lemonade.
"You can come downtown and look at it yourself, and get some nice food," she said of her business.
