Soft-drink entrepreneur Ashley Stephens continues to grow her brand with a seasonal business now set to expand into a year-round operation scheduled for the Wesley Square location and a more permanent structure on the drawing board.

Ms Stephens also promises to extend her menu to appeal to consumers, even when the weather turns colder.

She has already introduced freshly baked goods such as lemon cake since opening on the corner of Church Street and Wesley Street just about a year ago. More changes to the menu are planned, including hot drinks.

Ashley’s Lemonade spent nearly a decade at its previous location on the corner of Reid Street and Burnaby Hill before near-disaster struck. A car ploughed into the unmanned wooden structure and demolished it after a driver lost control of his car.

Ms Stephens said she was thankful there were no serious injuries.

But it meant change for the business she began in 2010 as a young student. She is now looking at ways to expand it.

She is over the moon about the new location, which she sees as suitable for the business because it is city-central and there is more parking for her customers. But it also affords opportunity for more pedestrian business, including sightseeing tourists in addition to her locale clientele, which she said is the mainstay of her business.

She said: “We have been here [Wesley Square] for a little longer than a year now. It’s turned out to be awesome.

“We’re open from about 11am to about 6pm and we are doing late nights Friday and Saturday. We also do Harbour Nights. We close Wednesdays about 4pm and then do Harbour Nights from 7pm to 10pm.”

She said her new location has now driven a regularity in clientele that she can look forward to on a daily basis.

“It’s summer so the tourists are here but we love to see our locals every day. That’s what keeps us going. They tell the tourists about us and tell them to try Ashley’s Lemonade. They bring their friends, they bring their family.

“We have the pleasure of seeing some people on a day-to-day basis. Almost just like some people get their coffee, they get their lemonade.”