Daily Inspiration: Meet Melanie Hexter

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Hexter.

Hi Melanie, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
How was Lemon Lodge Ski Bar born? My husband makes delicious wine from lemons, not grapes, at Evergood Adventure Wines, our winery in Palmer Lake, CO. Evergood’s “adult lemonades” have been sold statewide since 2018. Guests enjoy them over ice, chilled, and crafted into amazing wine cocktails! Our fan base calls them red solo cup wines, drinkable and dangerous since they are 8.6-10% ABV, gluten-free, low sugar, and low in sulfites.

However, our manufacturing location in the small mountain town of Palmer Lake doesn’t lend itself to walk-in traffic. One evening over dinner, we proposed to our adult kids that we’d like to open an Evergood wine-tasting room in downtown Colorado Springs. Our kids said, “Wine bars are boring… unless you’d add an Olympic-caliber ski and snowboard simulator.” That’s the true story behind Lemon Lodge Ski Bar!

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Tons and tons of obstacles! Opening an experiential dining venue, which we call “skiertainment,” during a recession has been hard. Everyone is stretched financially so all restaurants and bars are struggling.

Lemon Lodge faced unnecessary delays due to an ungoverned, unelected agency called Regional Building. Those months of delays directly led to thousands of dollars in budget overages, thousands of dollars of lost revenue, and an untimely summer opening.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My background as a stay-at-home mom and event/marketing director for Evergood led me to this point in the next stage of our family businesses. Lemon Lodge Ski Bar is a unique lodge-style venue, as though we brought a ski lodge down from the mountains into an accessible part of downtown Colorado Springs. Our rustic vibe offers sit-down ski-lodge-style foods.

Our lemon wines are sold by the glass, as wine flights, custom shandies, or unique wine cocktails create that après vibe you’d expect from a lodge. Finally, we offer Colorado’s only indoor skiing and snowboarding on an Olympic-caliber simulator — the same one used by the U.S. Ski team at their training center in Park City, UT.

Not gamified or VR, this is truly indoor carving. With cowbells on the tables (the alpine version of cheering) and rental boots, we are creating an accessible way for locals and tourists, beginners, and experts to enjoy snow sports. We are becoming the TopGolf or iFly for winter sports.

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
Three oldies but goodies:

1. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook for a strategic approach to running social media, which we greatly rely on in our marketing.
2. The Bible keeps me focused on truth, and how to love others well and serves as my compass.
3. Profit First gives us strategies for managing our finances. This is the area that wipes out most small businesses.

Pricing:

• Simulator sessions (includes qualified instructor, rental boots $5 extra)
• Ski School afternoons and evenings (discounted to small group prices)
• Simulator 4-punch pass (buy 3 sessions, get 1 free)
• Simulator 8-punch pass (buy 6 sessions, get 2 free)
• Happy Hour specials, 4-6 pm

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lemonlodge.com/
• Instagram: @lemonlodgeskibar
• Facebook: @lemonlodgeskbar
• Yelp: @lemonlodgeskibar
• TikTok: @lemonlodgeskibar

Image Credits
Lemon Lodge Ski Bar