The Lemonade Stand: ‘Fantastic concept’ comes to Davenport

Zeke’s Island Cafe in downtown Davenport is gone. A new restaurant that will help culinary students get ready for the business world has arrived. That new restaurant, called The Lemonade Stand, is opening this month at 131 W. Second St., on the first floor of the Redstone Building. It’s going in next to The Garrison […]

Zeke’s Island Cafe in downtown Davenport is gone. A new restaurant that will help culinary students get ready for the business world has arrived. That new restaurant, called The Lemonade Stand, is opening this month at 131 W. Second St., on the first floor of the Redstone Building. It’s going in next to The Garrison restaurant and where Zeke’s called home until a few weeks ago.

The Lemonade Stand had its soft opening on March 1. It is now open seven days a week. The restaurant’s grand opening is scheduled for April 13. “It’s going to be a bumpy first few weeks, but we will get it going,” said Yasmin Moreles, owner of The Lemonade Stand, and a former manager at Zeke’s. During a recent interview with the QCBJ, Ms. Moreles was busy getting a wide range of big and small jobs done to convert the former Zeke’s into a new, innovative restaurant. Some of those jobs included getting rid of the former Zeke’s decor and replacing it with The Lemonade Stand items (lemon stickers and wallpaper were already decorating some of the walls);  a menu was being put together with the help of Zeke’s owner, Jason Stewart (aka Chef Stu), who is serving as a consultant and training workers at the new restaurant; and interviews were being scheduled to hire workers. Zeke’s has closed its downtown Davenport location, but has two restaurants in Bettendorf – at 842 Middle Road and 5117 Competition Drive. A few weeks ago, Mr. Stewart announced the restaurant project in a news release, stating: “Yasmin has the tenacity, industry passion, food and beverage experience, and local and regional contacts to make this restaurant and the new culinary graduates successful.” “A big part of opening a restaurant is trying to find an identity,” said Ms. Moreles. The Lemonade Stand’s identity can be found in great food, great service and a place that will help get the next generation of restaurant workers ready for the business world, she added.

• Here are some of the features of the new restaurant:
• The Lemonade Stand will have up to 10 employees, who will really be interns running much of the business. Many of them will be culinary students from the Quad Cities region who will work at the restaurant for six months to a year before moving on with their careers. In fact, on Friday, March 1, Ms. Moreles was meeting with Eastern Iowa Community Colleges’ culinary students to see if any are interested in joining her at the restaurant. She refers to the experience as a paid work-study project.  “A year with me will be like two years at Scott (Community College),” she added.
• In addition to culinary students, the restaurant will have a place for people with talents in other sectors of the business. For instance, business students may join the staff to find out the skills needed to manage a restaurant.
• The menu at The Lemonade Stand is being called “bayou barbeque,” or food with a cajun influence that will be similar to the Zeke’s menu, Ms. Moreles added. Even though Chef Stu will plan the menu, the new workers will get a chance  to modify recipes and create food features. Ms. Moreles said she believes some of these culinary student creations will be great, and some may not work out. “Our students will find out that some food items may not be successful on a large scale. … But I want to give our people that creativity,” she added.

“It’s a fantastic concept that brings together student workforce development with creative cuisine, and Yasmin is one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met in my career,” said Kyle Carter, executive director of the Downtown Davenport Partnership, an affiliate of the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce. “I have no doubt she and Chef Stu will bring something special to the heart of downtown well worth the trip for Quad Cities foodies, and our entire community will benefit from the opportunities provided by this unique business model.” Her business model began coming together just a few months ago. Ms. Moreles was working as general manager over Zeke’s locations and other Chef Stu projects. A few months ago, an investor approached the two and started discussions on possibly helping new projects in the region. “He said ‘I want to invest in people. … If you have a project in mind, I want to back you,’” she said. (The investor’s name is not being made public, but Ms. Moreles said he is a Quad Cities resident.) Not long after that initial conversation, Ms. Moreles and Chef Stu helped put together a plan to start a restaurant that will help train a new restaurant workforce. “This all came together very, very quickly. … Partnership conversations started in December. In January, I was setting up business accounts,” she added. The name of the new restaurant also was formed during those initial talks with the investor. During those talks, Ms. Moreles and the others said that all true entrepreneurs started with a lemonade stand when they were children. “The name just stuck,” she said. She added, though, that the top factor that attracted her to The Lemonade Stand project was the chance to help, train and inspire people in the restaurant industry. In a business that is filled with challenges and some tough days, the best of times are always centered around the people you work with, Ms. Moreles said. “Our day always gets better after we spend time with our people. … The good always outweighs the bad,” she added.