Got Milk?
When I was a little boy growing up in a small town in Northern California, I remember getting up every Monday and Thursday and running to the front porch first thing to see what Sam left. Sam was our milkman, and there just might be some intriguing flavor of ice cream with those cold glass bottles of milk. Sam could make my day with a carton of chocolate chip ice cream. By my early teens, the supercenter trend was in full swing. Game, set, match. Sam the milkman was a dinosaur and extinct.
Indeed, Home delivery once accounted for most milk sales. By 1963 it was about a third. By 2001 it represented a paltry 0.4 percent, suggesting anyone trying to enter the milk delivery business today would struggle to say the least.
Inspite of the numbers, Ron Panneton and his wife entered the milk delivery business in 2002. Today, Panneton is indeed struggling -- to keep pace with demand.
Turns out the old fashion milkman is back in a big way.
Interest in Panneton's glass bottled milk is so strong that he is turning away customers until he and his wife add a second truck and hire their first employee later this summer. His customer list has doubled to 200 from a year ago.
It's a story repeated nationwide as dairy delivery bucks the supercenter trend and grapples with an unexpected demand that industry officials attribute to a combination of nostalgia, convenience and taste.
Most dairy delivery companies don't produce their own milk. They often tout milk from local farms, much of it produced organically or without the use of added hormones. Such products are part of a growing natural foods trend. Many also branch out offering specialty meats, breads, jams and even frozen pizza and cut flowers. Companies say most of their customers are middle-to upper-class families.
While the natural foods trend is a motivation for some delivery customers, convenience is the primary driving force behind the rise of the milkman. Though the cost of delivery and the higher price of the milk are expensive for many families, time crunched NASCAR Dads and Soccer Moms are more than ever willing to trade money for time for a variety of products and services.
Undeniably, delivery services are not just for pizza anymore. Diaper delivery services are making a strong come back after a dramatic decline in the mid 90's. Services that offer home delivery from gourmet and other sit down restaurants have also popped up all over the country. Grocery chains and some online start-ups have been experimenting with home delivery as well.
Convenience is a trend that will continue to grow as our lives continue to get busier. Home delivery is one way to capitalize on this trend as people are more willing than ever to pay to have whatever it is they want brought to them rather than getting it themselves.
Let your imagination run wild. Find a way to make the lives of residents in your community easier and less hectic and you may have a winner. How about a catch all home delivery service? "We deliver anything directly to your home." Also, don't forget to give some thought to ways to make your existing products or services more convenient for your customers.
While researching this post, I came across an interesting website for those who own diaper delivery services. The National Association of Diaper Services promotes the use of cloth diapers and among other things, has a directory of members, where the public can search for a diaper service in their area.
This got me thinking and looking. There appears to be no similar service for the milk home delivery companies. Why not create something similar to NADS for the milkmen? Provide online networking opportunities for the business owners themselves, a searchable database of members for the public, and solid dairy product information and you could be milking a cash cow. (I would do this one myself if I had the time.) Another idea might be a national directory of delivery services in general, searchable by community or zip code.
If you "borrow" one of these ideas, let me know how it goes.
For in depth features, insight, and commentary on new, unusual and creative small and home business ideas that you can copy, borrow, or steal for your own profit, visit profittrendcafe.com.
Indeed, Home delivery once accounted for most milk sales. By 1963 it was about a third. By 2001 it represented a paltry 0.4 percent, suggesting anyone trying to enter the milk delivery business today would struggle to say the least.
Inspite of the numbers, Ron Panneton and his wife entered the milk delivery business in 2002. Today, Panneton is indeed struggling -- to keep pace with demand.
Turns out the old fashion milkman is back in a big way.
Interest in Panneton's glass bottled milk is so strong that he is turning away customers until he and his wife add a second truck and hire their first employee later this summer. His customer list has doubled to 200 from a year ago.
It's a story repeated nationwide as dairy delivery bucks the supercenter trend and grapples with an unexpected demand that industry officials attribute to a combination of nostalgia, convenience and taste.
Most dairy delivery companies don't produce their own milk. They often tout milk from local farms, much of it produced organically or without the use of added hormones. Such products are part of a growing natural foods trend. Many also branch out offering specialty meats, breads, jams and even frozen pizza and cut flowers. Companies say most of their customers are middle-to upper-class families.
While the natural foods trend is a motivation for some delivery customers, convenience is the primary driving force behind the rise of the milkman. Though the cost of delivery and the higher price of the milk are expensive for many families, time crunched NASCAR Dads and Soccer Moms are more than ever willing to trade money for time for a variety of products and services.
Undeniably, delivery services are not just for pizza anymore. Diaper delivery services are making a strong come back after a dramatic decline in the mid 90's. Services that offer home delivery from gourmet and other sit down restaurants have also popped up all over the country. Grocery chains and some online start-ups have been experimenting with home delivery as well.
Convenience is a trend that will continue to grow as our lives continue to get busier. Home delivery is one way to capitalize on this trend as people are more willing than ever to pay to have whatever it is they want brought to them rather than getting it themselves.
Let your imagination run wild. Find a way to make the lives of residents in your community easier and less hectic and you may have a winner. How about a catch all home delivery service? "We deliver anything directly to your home." Also, don't forget to give some thought to ways to make your existing products or services more convenient for your customers.
While researching this post, I came across an interesting website for those who own diaper delivery services. The National Association of Diaper Services promotes the use of cloth diapers and among other things, has a directory of members, where the public can search for a diaper service in their area.
This got me thinking and looking. There appears to be no similar service for the milk home delivery companies. Why not create something similar to NADS for the milkmen? Provide online networking opportunities for the business owners themselves, a searchable database of members for the public, and solid dairy product information and you could be milking a cash cow. (I would do this one myself if I had the time.) Another idea might be a national directory of delivery services in general, searchable by community or zip code.
If you "borrow" one of these ideas, let me know how it goes.
For in depth features, insight, and commentary on new, unusual and creative small and home business ideas that you can copy, borrow, or steal for your own profit, visit profittrendcafe.com.
