KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? It was a simple family recipe: lemons, water, sugar and a touch of mint.

But that sweet lemonade has turned barber James Anderson, the youngest of six children raised by a single mother in public housing in Kansas City, Kan., into a successful entrepreneur.

“It still is a surprise,” Anderson says of the success of James’ Lemonade.

Four years after he began bottling the lemonade, Anderson is selling four flavored soft drinks — the original lemonade, fruit punch, grape and mango — in nine states, although he says they are most popular in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas. Anderson expects to sell about 2.8 million bottles this year, compared with just over 2 million bottles last year.

“You wouldn’t have thought he would be that successful with his lemonade,” says Kansas City, Kan., resident Rod Bailey, adding that there are many other lemonades available in grocery stores.

Anderson, who obtained his cosmetology license in 1981 and began working at a local barbershop, only gave up cutting hair this July, after his 40th birthday.

“That’s my first love,” says Anderson, who was in the ninth grade when he decided he wanted to be a hair stylist.

But his lemonade business — a project that started as a side business of a side business — has been so successful that friends and family finally convinced him he needed to focus on it.

“Until someone started working with me I never realized I worked 14 to 16 hour days. I never counted the hours,” Anderson says.

James Anderson holds a bottle of James' Lemonade while in his Kansas City, Kan., home. Four years after he began bottling the lemonade, Anderson is selling four flavored soft drinks. His product is distributed in nine states, although he says they are most popular in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas.

Anderson’s idea was born after he opened his own hair salon — James’ Place — in Kansas City, Kan., in 1995. After noticing he was cleaning up a lot of food at the end of each day, Anderson opened James’ Grill next door.

“I said, ‘Dang, I can do hamburgers,”‘ says Anderson, who used cameras to watch his restaurant while he was cutting hair.

Along with hamburgers, the restaurant served lemonade that he made each day, Anderson says. Demand for the lemonade became so high that it created problems for Anderson, who would get up before dawn to mix several gallons of lemonade before he started cutting hair.

By midmorning, he says, the restaurant was running out.

Encouraged by friends, Anderson turned to bottled lemonade in 1999. The next year, he signed a deal with Belfonte to distribute his drinks, which are bottled in Louisburg.

Anderson now sells the four flavors in Arizona, California, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. The restaurant is managed by friends, while four other people staff the barbershop.

Anderson, a Baptist who attributes his success to “abiding faith in God and hard work,” admits he also has received a lot of help from family and friends.

“He’s gonna do great things down the road,” says Anderson’s only sister, Sheila Perkins, who serves as vice president of James’ Lemonade. “I see from where he’s come. Just think about it; he’s a barber.”

Anderson, who still lives in Kansas City, Kan., says this fall he plans to focus on selling his grape drink to churches for communion. The company also is working on making all the drinks available over the Internet.