'Heartbreaking': Alabama mom's attempt to teach kids business at lemonade stand ends with Labor Dept. report

Saleen Martin, USA TODAY
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An Alabama mother said she is heartbroken after her plans to teach two local children how to run a business were thwarted due to someone calling the U.S. Department of Labor on her.

The caller claimed she was hiring children but it’s simply not true, said mom Cristal Johnson.

Johnson made a social media post last Thursday promoting an apprenticeship program where two kids could learn more about her son’s lemonade stand business and serve as greeters and smilers.

“You can drop them off with us at the truck for a 2 hr shift, and pick them up at the end of their shift,” she wrote in her post.

The post also asked for little ones who apply to submit resumes. She was planning to pay the kids $20, but Johnson said her main goal was to teach them math skills, customer service skills and build their self-esteem.

A June 23, 2023 Instagram post. Cristal Johnson planned an event hoping to teach other kids how her son does business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.
A June 23, 2023 Instagram post. Cristal Johnson planned an event hoping to teach other kids how her son does business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.
Cam Johnson and his mother, Cristal Johnson, owners of Cam's Lemonade. The business was started in 2022 when the boy was just 7 years old. His mother planned an event in June 2023 hoping to teach other kids how they do business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.
Cam Johnson and his mother, Cristal Johnson, owners of Cam's Lemonade. The business was started in 2022 when the boy was just 7 years old. His mother planned an event in June 2023 hoping to teach other kids how they do business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.

The next day, she received a call from the U.S. Department of Labor that someone had  formally complained saying she was hiring minors and that the event had to be canceled.

“My feelings were hurt,” said Johnson. “I was shocked. There’s no way a decent person would gather that I was trying to hire minors to do any type of work for me.”

Johnson said the U.S. Department of Labor representative she spoke to understood what she was trying to do but the event needed to be nixed because she could've profited from a child working for her if lemonade was sold.

Now, Johnson said she’s planning another event and will check with her contact in the department first. They’ll have a similar event but no lemonade will be sold to customers that day, she said.

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Mom says someone making a complaint against her was ‘heartbreaking’

Johnson said she was just trying to do a good thing for children in the community.

After receiving the call to cancel the event, she took to Facebook to let community members know.

“Although my heart was in the right place.. someone else’s was not,” she wrote Friday. “That person is no doubt reading this message, and this is for you: You CANNOT stop what is destined to be! You didn’t win! All you did is make me figure out another way.”

She told USA TODAY she was hurt that someone tried to turn it into something negative.

“It was a very heartbreaking thing for me,” Johnson said. “I was just trying to do a good thing and help some kids and help the community. For someone to turn it into what they did, it was pretty awful.”

Cam Johnson and his mother, Cristal Johnson, owners of Cam's Lemonade. The business was started in 2022 when the boy was just 7 years old. His mother planned an event in June 2023 hoping to teach other kids how they do business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.
Cam Johnson and his mother, Cristal Johnson, owners of Cam's Lemonade. The business was started in 2022 when the boy was just 7 years old. His mother planned an event in June 2023 hoping to teach other kids how they do business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.

The start of Cameron’s Lemonade

Her son, Cameron, started a lemonade stand business in 2022 when he was 7 years old. Cameron wanted to go to Disney World and his mom wanted to teach him the value of a dollar.

His mother, Cristal, is a single mother and respiratory therapist who works overnight, so she challenged him to raise money he could use to pay for the trip.

She bought crates, set up a stand at the end of the family’s driveway and posted on Facebook urging locals to stop by and support her son.

“We were going to do it for one Saturday,” she said. “Before we knew it, at the end of the day, we had several people come by and ask ‘Hey, when are you going to do it again?’”

They did it again the following weekend and things took off, she said.

Cam Johnson, owner of Cam's Lemonade. The business was started in 2022 when the boy was just 7 years old. His mother planned an event in June 2023 hoping to teach other kids how they do business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.
Cam Johnson, owner of Cam's Lemonade. The business was started in 2022 when the boy was just 7 years old. His mother planned an event in June 2023 hoping to teach other kids how they do business, but someone called the U.S. Department of Labor and complained that the company was hiring minors.

Initially, they sold store bought lemonade but the boy’s mother later decided to make her own.They currently sell flavors such as:

  • Original

  • Peach

  • Pink Lemonade

  • Mango

  • The Hulk

  • Red Jolly Rancher

  • Raspberry

  • Strawberry

  • Strawberry Peach (with real strawberries)

  • Strawberry (with real strawberries)

  • Pineapple (with real pineapples)

His mom says the person who filed a complaint against them won’t stop them.

“We’re not going to let something like that stop us,” she said.

Keep up with Johnson and her son Cam at www.camslemonade.square.site, www.instagram.com/cams_lemonade and www.facebook.com/camslemonade.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alabama mom's lemonade stand post leads to Labor Department complaint

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