milk vending machine

pjm2203

Member
Trade
See your point of view on this but what we are getting unending interest from the dairy and cattle communities for the exact opposite

Our customers see it as an alternative route to market for all produce.

Vending milk either raw or pasteurised through a vender is a fantastic story from carbon footprint and community point of view. Customers buy your glass bottles at a good margin and then whilst advertising your farm to all and sundry bring them back week after week to buy more of the white stuff at £1 plus per litre rather than 25p or so.

The same applies for farm produced meat. If you have the ability to process the meat locally at a reasonable cost then the additional return to you from selling it direct cannot be underestimated. The public want to know where their food comes from and it is simple to create a positive insight into how you produce and look after your animals and the obvious quality of such products

The loyalty from the public that comes with knowing this information is astonishing and the range of additional products that can be added to the range of products you sell is endless

Its not easy and takes effort and creativity but its not rocket science either to make a huge difference to your margins
 

pjm2203

Member
Trade
Of course yes.

We have customers selling up to 500 litres a day of a combination of milk and milkshakes at £1.30 for milk and £1.80 for shakes.

If you take the Feb average milk price at 30p/l that’s £150 at the gate compared to £750 through a machine

On meat this is more variable depending on target market and source of stock used but it is at least double factory revenue and with additional marketing on the use of lesser known cuts significantly more
 

O'Reilly

Member
Of course yes.

We have customers selling up to 500 litres a day of a combination of milk and milkshakes at £1.30 for milk and £1.80 for shakes.

If you take the Feb average milk price at 30p/l that’s £150 at the gate compared to £750 through a machine

On meat this is more variable depending on target market and source of stock used but it is at least double factory revenue and with additional marketing on the use of lesser known cuts significantly more
Running costs?
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
Of course yes.

We have customers selling up to 500 litres a day of a combination of milk and milkshakes at £1.30 for milk and £1.80 for shakes.

If you take the Feb average milk price at 30p/l that’s £150 at the gate compared to £750 through a machine

On meat this is more variable depending on target market and source of stock used but it is at least double factory revenue and with additional marketing on the use of lesser known cuts significantly more

I was asking about carbon footprint.
Any figures on that side.
 

Whitewalker

Member
And someone to run it, and a building to put the processing and vending equipment in. Not sounding quite so lucrative as £750 minus the £150 for the raw milk.

No it’s pretty poor, 20 cows x 25 litres average , giving 500 litres a day , going at the quoted £750 turnover is £750x 30 days = £22500 a month . Now how you could make money at that I don’t know. !!!
 

Tim G

Member
Livestock Farmer
@pjm2203 can I make a suggestion?
I have my doubts on vending machines and also your 'headline' figures and claims (carbon footprint?)
However, my suggestion is send a machine off to @onesiedale to trial for 2 months. When he's done with it send it down to me and I'll trial it for another 2 months. Let us see if it boosts sales of milk over the systems we run. If it does and the figures workout I'd seriously consider buying one.
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
@pjm2203 can I make a suggestion?
I have my doubts on vending machines and also your 'headline' figures and claims (carbon footprint?)
However, my suggestion is send a machine off to @onesiedale to trial for 2 months. When he's done with it send it down to me and I'll trial it for another 2 months. Let us see if it boosts sales of milk over the systems we run. If it does and the figures workout I'd seriously consider buying one.


Come on @pjm2203 . There is an offer you can not refuse
 

onesiedale

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
@pjm2203 can I make a suggestion?
I have my doubts on vending machines and also your 'headline' figures and claims (carbon footprint?)
However, my suggestion is send a machine off to @onesiedale to trial for 2 months. When he's done with it send it down to me and I'll trial it for another 2 months. Let us see if it boosts sales of milk over the systems we run. If it does and the figures workout I'd seriously consider buying one.
...and if it really does boost sales, and more importantly profit, then I'm sure @Tim G and I will report back on here fully endorsing it for you.
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
No it’s pretty poor, 20 cows x 25 litres average , giving 500 litres a day , going at the quoted £750 turnover is £750x 30 days = £22500 a month . Now how you could make money at that I don’t know. !!!
I think I said earlier in this thread but worth repeating.

Know someone with 2 vending machines.

It's a full time job keeping them stocked and running.
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
No it’s pretty poor, 20 cows x 25 litres average , giving 500 litres a day , going at the quoted £750 turnover is £750x 30 days = £22500 a month . Now how you could make money at that I don’t know. !!!
You make it sound simple
What about the days when you only sell 300 litres. ( Happens for all sorts of reasons.)
What do you do with the surplus milk.
Then some of your cows are dry, so you don`t have 500 litres to sell, & you end up with peed off customers cos the machine is empty.
@Tim G will know all the pitfalls.
 

Whitewalker

Member
You make it sound simple
What about the days when you only sell 300 litres. ( Happens for all sorts of reasons.)
What do you do with the surplus milk.
Then some of your cows are dry, so you don`t have 500 litres to sell, & you end up with peed off customers cos the machine is empty.
@Tim G will know all the pitfalls.
I’m not I’m just quoting the figures, like everything suit some people others not , some will make it work for them others won’t 🤷‍♂️
 

pjm2203

Member
Trade
Morning Everyone, I have the carbon footprint info in my office and will put that up later.

No one ever said it was easy to do this and it is absolutely not for everyone due to location, staffing, resources, capitol. The list goes on........

As far as revenue is concerned of the customers that we have doing this they are all trying their hardest to increase their incomes in selling their produce to other markets than the norm.

Supplying milk to local cheese manufacturers, ice cream manufacturers, local cafes, meat and lots of other products to local pubs and restaurants. Etc etc

It takes time and effort and if you can generate an additional £22,500 per month from a relatively small investment then surely its got to be worth looking at.

On carbon footprints you are never going to reduce it to zero in the near future especially in major cities as many city folk simply don’t have cars.

If we can stop say 15,000 litres a month from one farm going down the road in a gas guzzling truck to be transhipped somewhere else and then processed and transported again to the distribution warehouse then transported again to the store then surely what we are trying to do is make a difference

As I said though, its not for everyone
 

Sid

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
South Molton
If we can stop say 15,000 litres a month from one farm going down the road in a gas guzzling truck to be transhipped somewhere else and then processed and transported again to the distribution warehouse then transported again to the store then surely what we are trying to do is make a difference

There will be 28,000 litres on that truck, how many car journeys is that from a relatively rural farm to home?
How many car journeys is that?
2 litres per purchase, 14,000 @ 5 miles per trip that's 70,000 miles a month alone.

Love to see your figures on this.
 
I would say that if I had a milk vending machine I would definitely try to find a way to increase the spend from punters who are using it. This is called up-selling in the sector and obviously pubs and shops try to maximise it by offering customers something else besides what they have entered to buy initially. I admit it is more work. Best to use products with a long shelf life, cheese would be a good one.
 

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