Modernizing milk

As plant-based milk products went from health-food shopReformhaus, Naturkostladenhealth-food shops to mainstream supermarkets, it looked like the end for cow’s milk. In fact, global dairy milkMilch aus einer Molkereidairy milk consumption is increasing. In 2020, the UK produced 15.3 billionMilliarde(n)billion litres of milk, the highest level in 30 years, and in the US, whole milkVollmilchwhole-milk consumption rose 3.2 per cent in 2024. 

It’s not just dairy milk that’s becoming popular again, but also the convenienceKomfort, Annehmlichkeitconvenience of milk deliveries, which peakden Höchststand erreichenpeaked in Britain in the 1970s. The Modern Milkman, a company found sth.etw. gründenfounded in 2018 in Lancashire, in the north-west of England, is bringing back and modernizing milk delivery, and the company has ­become one of Europe’s fastest-growing start-ups.

Simon Mellin started the business after watching the BBC documentary series Blue Planet and being inspired by the anti-plastic movement. He wanted to return to the days of regular milk deliveries, using local suppliers and reuseable glass bottles. Starting in his home village, he set up a flexible business model of up to three deliveries a week, selling bread, yogurt, eggs, fruit and vegetables, too.

Timing is everything

This is not about going back to the past, however. Mellin has given milk deliveries a modern touch. “I went out to collect the money and I immediately ­understood why the concept of the milk roundMilchrunde (Weg beim Ausliefern von Milch an Haushalte)milk round had died out previouslyzuvorpreviously,” he told investor ETF Partners. “It’s impossible to get paid. No one’s be inhier: zu Hause seinin, and no one has any cashBargeldcash.” So, Mellin created a platform with an app. His customers can order for a particular day of the week, and they can pause or edit orders up to 8 p.m. the evening before. Requests for one-offhier: einmaligone-off ­deliveries on other days are also possible. “We’re a platform that acts as a conduithier: Verbindungsstelleconduit and connects producers to users,” Mellin told Business Leader. “The end goal is to enable sb. (to do sth.)jmdn. etw. ermöglichenenable people to be more sustainablenachhaltigsustainable. We’re not a manufacturerHersteller(in), Produzent(in)manufacturer or a food packer, we’re a technology business with an integrated logistics vertical.”

Food needed to go back to the old-fashioned way

Timing is often a big part of success, and Mellin’s business really boomed during the pandemic, as people avoided shopping in stores. Mellin believes he was in the right place at the right time. “A lot of firms were trying to take food digital, but nobody was thinking about smaller baskethier: (Waren-)Korbbasket sizes and a higher ­frequency of deliveries,” he says. “I had a belief that food needed to go back to the old-fashioned way, with little-and-often habits, but in a more convenientpraktisch, geeignetconvenient way,” he said.

Getting bigger

rate sth.etw. einstufen, bewertenRated eighth in the 2024 FT 1000 ranking of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, the Modern Milkman is worth £250 million and has even bought its US equivalent, which coincidentallyzufälligerweisecoincidentally had the same name. The US Modern Milkman is active in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio and Rhode Island but has plans to expand.

It hasn’t all been easy, however. In 2022, the company’s expansion into France failed. This sort of wrong turn is not unusual when small businesses are growing fast and looking for new markets. “With aggressive growth come aggressive losses as you ­invest in expansion,” he told the website Growth Index. Mellin takes the optimistic view that the closurehier: Geschäftsaufgabeclosure allows him to “focus on the core marketKernmarktcore market in the UK”.