Lemonade the Rare Way: Harford County father turns life's lemons into a small business

A Harford County man is turning a longtime family recipe into a growing small business, one cup of fresh lemonade at a time.

Matthew Bartee is the founder of Lemonade the Rare Way, a business built on fresh fruit, organic cane sugar, and flavors he spent more than 10 years perfecting at home before ever selling a single cup.

"My number one seller is the pineapple mango lemonade. It's mangoes, pineapples, and fresh lemonade. This is all fresh fruit. I don't use any syrups. I use organic cane sugar," Bartee said.

Matt Bartee

His lineup also includes a dragon fruit, pineapple, and passion fruit blend, as well as a mango Half and Half that he said has been a big hit since its debut. The strawberry apple lemonade rounds out the menu. There's more than 26 flavors in total.

The business name is a nod to Bartee's clothing brand, Rare Couture. But the lemonade itself has roots in something more personal: years of making a tropical blend of peach, mango, pineapple, and strawberry for family cookouts and gatherings.

"For 10+ years now I've always made it at home, family cookouts, when friends come over, they always have it made and they always drink it, they always love it, and my wife was always like, you should bottle that up," Bartee said.

He took her advice. His first batch of 20 sold out immediately.

Bartee said his wife's encouragement was the push he needed, and his five children — four sons and a baby girl — have become part of the operation too. He brings the older kids along to festivals, markets, and pop-ups.

Matt Bartee

"They come and I can sit back and let them pretty much run the table," Bartee said.

Before launching Lemonade the Rare Way full time, Bartee spent 14 years working in corporate accounting. A layoff became a turning point.

"I never turned back. I'm not saying I would never go back, but as of right now, that's not the plan," Bartee said.

He said self-employment has given his family something that a corporate schedule couldn't — flexibility.

"Being self-employed and having 5 kids is great. The flexibility, school drop-offs, school pickups, somebody's sick, somebody has to get picked up early, daycare, there's so many different things that are going on in our family. Being able to be flexible and allow my wife to just stick to her job and not have to leave early or take off, and I can take on that burden has been great for us," Bartee said.

Matt Bartee

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