DUNEDIN, Fla. — Situated right on the Pinellas Trail in Dunedin, next to the Dunedin History Museum, is a little red boxcar.
Inside, delicious lemonade, pretzels and ice cream at Lane's Lemonade.
"So I quit corporate and decided to take this over," says new owner Marie Todd. "It's been amazing. It's been amazing. It's the friendliest community. I love the fact that people come up to the window now and say, Hey, Marie, you know, how's it going? And we have a loyal customer base, made some changes started fresh-baked pretzels now. And that has been a big success."
Known for its lemonade and the delicious orange swirl ice cream.
"Well, you know, like we have the citrus history here, and the Pinellas trail that used to be the railroad tracks here, transporting citrus. And we wanted to tap into that. So we do the soft, soft-serve ice cream. And we have a little bit of secret ingredients into our orange-flavored ice cream. That makes it a home run. They told me I have one guy that walks seven miles every weekend and stops here just to get the orange ice cream. So it's a big hit. And it's a local favorite," says Todd.
The supportive, friendly staff is also what keeps people coming back.
"But I think it's been one of my greatest joys, honestly, is to create an environment where these girls I wasn't meant to be, but it's just happened that we're all women working here," Todd says. "It's a safe, it's a fun, its own rewarding environment, we definitely pay more than the minimum wage. We try to take really good care of them and I want to hear their ideas. I want to hear their input."
"I think it's important in the service industry that, you know, there's respect then, and knowing that these girls are — they're so smart."
Lane's is open Friday through Sunday right now. You can take a look at their menu by clicking here.
