Small family business brings flavored sweet teas to Red, White & BOOM!

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – A small family business out of northeastern Ohio travels to downtown Columbus yearly to grow their business and bring their flavored sweet teas to Red, White & BOOM!

David Hoffman is a worker at the sweet tea and lemonade stand T’s Concessions. His mom and brother own the small business, which started off as a small hot dog cart in northeastern Ohio.

“On the back of a little trailer, a little homemade hot dog cart, we started selling over at Four Seasons over in Lisbon,” Hoffman said. “And then slowly, we just started building up from there.”

The stand serves sweet tea and lemonade in a variety of flavors, such as strawberry, peach, mango and cherry. Specifically for BOOM!, the family business serves a special raspberry-flavored red, white and blue drink. 

Part of growing the family business was becoming a vendor at Red, White & BOOM! 2024 marks T’s Concessions’ third year as a vendor at the event.

“I remember the first year,” Hoffman said. “We were definitely not prepared for it because we're used to smaller [events] – Canfield Fair was honestly the biggest thing we did and then we came here and it's just like phew. There's a lot of people here, lots and lots of people here.”

Red, White & BOOM! Is known as the biggest fireworks show in the Midwest, and draws around 400,000 visitors each year. The family business adjusted to serving customers at a large event, and Hoffman said his favorite part of coming to BOOM! is “definitely the fireworks.”

“Being a worker here, you technically have a front row seat to all the fireworks, and it's really nice,” Hoffman said. “And there's always a lot of people here who are friendly and everything.”

T's Concessions is set up on Civic Center Drive, right along the Scioto River. The fireworks show will start at 10 p.m. and last about 25 minutes. The display will be shot over the river, fired within Genoa Park on the east side of COSI.