

by Joanne Camas
on 08/29/14 at 09:20 AM





LemonesseLeja's full-throttle commitment to his idea has paid off. Fifteen fine-dining restaurants in the Chicago area now serve Lémonesse, including the Michelin-starred Sixteen at Trump Tower and the popular Chicago Cut Steakhouse, and Leja's distributors are gearing up to distribute bottles nationwide.

Does Leja have any advice for other people with a food or drink dream?

"It's definitely a lot easier said than done," he admits. "The simple answer is I did it with a lot of heart, passion, and will to succeed, because without that you will have a really difficult time." He also credits his wife and family with offering the support he needed to stay the distance developing and marketing Lémonesse.

"There really are no shortcuts to anything in life -- at least none that are going to be worth it in the end," Leja warns. "There are a number of shared kitchen spaces that you can use for a food product that dramatically cut production costs.

"But the best advice I can give is that you have to be passionate about what you are doing. You can't go into it thinking you're going to get rich. That's the fastest track to failure."

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