Would you use a milk vending machine

LittleBee1977

I have a business idea for a fresh milk vending machine and I'm looking for some feedback please.

So I'm really sick of the amount of milk cartons that we go through in our family. I have 3 boys and we go through about 12 lts a week. I'm trying to reduce the amount of plastic we use and the milk carton thing is bugging me.

So I had a thought that if there was a tap in the shop where I could fill up my reusable bottle or jug I would totally do it, so I decided I need to design a Milk Vending Machine.

Well it turns out its already available and is being widely used in Germany Italy Africa and India. With a little further research I discovered that a number of farmers in Ireland and the UK have installed these machines on their farms to sell raw and pasteurized milk direct to their customers as milk prices had dropped but I can't find any information on them being available in locals shops etc.

My questions are....

1. Would you use a milk vending machine?

2. If yes would you use it for (a) to be eco friendly (b) convenience (c) driven by price

3. Would you consider it to be a viable green business.

Hoboo

LittleBee1977 wrote: »

My questions are....

1. Would you use a milk vending machine?

2. If yes would you use it for (a) to be eco friendly (b) convenience (c) driven by price

3. Would you consider it to be a viable green business.

1. No. Its convenient to buy it in the shop like Ive always done.

2. N/A

3. No. I can recycle my plastic bottle as it is. Driving to a farm or other shop to refill my jug/bottle is probably worse.

eeeee

Yep I'd absolutely use one, the less plastic being used and in the system the better. It would have to be somewhere convenient though, in a supermarket or in a town.
I also hate going through cartons.

Sesame

Brilliant idea! The 2l and 3l milk containers give me that guilty feeling even chucking in the recycling. Massive amount of plastic to be disposing even day or two.
If I could be sure my container was clean and the service was easy to use, I'd be very interested and know many like me.

utmbuilder

I drive past an egg vending machine some days near Navan

Baybay

I dislike vending machines in general & am not too fond of milk either. I can't imagine a situation where this would be something I'd consider using.

endacl

Milk vending machine.



*runs away before the vegans get here babbling about baby cows* :pac:

shaunr68

Here's one I saw outside a Co-op supermarket in Slovakia

beertons

Let's say you fill it, how ever many litres. When you go a few days later with a fresh batch, what do you do with the stock not sold? You have to clean it, tank and pipes before you put in your new stock. Time consuming. Cost involved too. Better to sell small pint sized cartons that drop down, like the drinks machines. I've been in the vending business all my life. I had a heap of stock, pringles, that went out of date. And I don't eat them. So I had to throw it all out.

L.Jenkins

Probably a better option if you're trying to reduce waste. Saves time in terms of cleaning equipment and disposing of out of date stock.

LittleBee1977

Great thanks everyone for the feedback. I'm thinking perhaps if I already owned a shop or was in the milk or vending business already it may be viable but as a start up I think you are right the costs would be too high for it to be my sole business.

@ beertons from what I have read about these machines they are stocked with smaller vessels that can be cleaned and refilled directly by the dairy farmer so there should not be as much waste as you think but if it was my sole business it would probably still be too much given its a fresh produce,. also every time someone uses the machine it is blasted with steam to keep it clean but yes it would probable still take more servicing then a regular vending machine,

So I think I'm just going to have to convince my local Centra to get one in so I can benefit from using it, reduce my waste and not risk my life savings that is currently at zero, ha ha, back to the drawing board, but this time next year rodders...

Mickiemcfist

I could be completely wrong on this, but I'd have thought in order to make this eco friendly you'd have to sell an absolute pile of milk in order to offset the manufacturing of the machine. Presumably full of mined metal, plastic, electronic parts that aren't as easily recyclable as a milk carton. Plus as was said above, if people had to make a special trip to get it, it would further add to the carbon imprint in fuel.

If it was in my local shops I'd probably use it, but 9 times out of ten I forget my reusable bags and have to buy more so I'd probably be equally bad at remembering to clean my milk bottle and bring it.

It could be a good idea, but I am personally not environmentally conscious enough to really use it.

Gloomtastic!

If it's available in other countries then all the issues with cleanliness etc have been addressed.

Farmers markets would be perfect for this product. Visit each one, find the busiest stall selling veg or meat and get them to lease the vending machine of you and supply them the milk.

Good luck to you!

ironclaw

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

If it's available in other countries then all the issues with cleanliness etc have been addressed.

Farmers markets would be perfect for this product. Visit each one, find the busiest stall selling veg or meat and get them to lease the vending machine of you and supply them the milk.

Good luck to you!

Countries wildly differ on food standards. I actually doubt you could do this in Ireland with the level of cleaning that is mandated. You need a full clean down every single day. Take fountain drinks as an example. You would also need to be able to ensure the temperature of the entire process, night and day. Not to mention keeping it cooled.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned price. How are you planning to supply milk below the rate Tesco or similar can? They sell near a loss to get people into the shop.

Lastly, the customer experience. How do you deal with a spoilt product? For example, not everyone has a full shilling and they could bring any old container to get milk. It goes bad because it wasn't cleaned or sanitized. It's going to be your fault however you want to try spin it. You can't control your product once it leaves the spout and that's well before the customer consumes it which is very rare. At a market, at least the seller can view the product before they wrap it or hand it over, meaning some form of control is taking place.

It's a nice idea, but its a novelty, not a business.

Skedaddle

In places like France, the main purpose of this kind of milk distribution is to get farm-fresh milk that isn't UHT treated. There's a demand for lightly pasteurised and raw milk.

The Irish milk retail market is very different, with very little UHT consumed and a preference for nearly farm-fresh simply pasteurised milk instead. So, I'm not sure that you'd have the same demand.

What exactly would you be offering that would distinguish this from buying non-UHT milk in cartons? They're highly recyclable, the product is very fresh and isn't processed to the point that the flavour alters.

The only thing I could think would be different is if you sold non-homogenised milk, there's a niche market for this.
Would you be providing extra traceability ?

Also, food hygiene regulations in the EU aren't widely varied. They're government by harmonised standards delivered through EU directives. There are a few minor issues around the sale of raw milk in Ireland, but the standards around food packaging, distribution, storage and so on are all harmonised.

I'm just not sure you'd get much buy-in in Ireland for purely environmental reasons just to eliminate cartons.

pedroeibar1

It’s a totally unworkable notion. Forget as examples Africa and India, the machines are in use there for different reasons (lack of rural power/refrigeration). In France it is to avoid UHT milk as pointed out above.
Very few would care about ‘environmentally friendly’ particularly as they would have to walk/cycle to the machine.
Farms are in low-density areas, so there is no large customer base locally.
Two litres of milk in a shop is €1.49. That is the price you are competing with.
How many litres and at what margin do you need to sell to cover the cost of a machine, power, insurance, servicing, replenishment, wastage, etc. ??
Do some sums before asking a Centra.

joejobrien

Alot of questions posed in above, some are revelant and many answers avilable if futher research was done.
However if you think your market is same as the multplies, forget this idea. You can command a market but it will be smaller. Its high cost entry more than you realise based on the info supplied. You will need a supplier. Not everyone is suitable. Your business can be wiped out if supplier has Disease outbreak. that means all your marketing can be zero. defence you need a few suppliers. You have VAT implications in this business.
I have researched this a number of years back. parameters have changed since both good and bad.

PM me for more info.

andrewfaulk

I'm just not sure you'd get much buy-in in Ireland for purely environmental reasons just to eliminate cartons.[/quote]

Dairy isn’t considered environmentally friendly by a growing cohort who are consuming alternatives instead.. so you would be trying to put an environmentalist spin on a product that is increasingly being seen as bad for the environment..

Despite what the farmers and their lobbyists are saying, there’s not much growth in Dairy consumption in the Irish Market.. So you would be trying to get into a saturated market with big established players with massive economies of scale while relying on a flawed premise as your USP