Connage Highland Dairy is a family owned organic dairy farm near Inverness. They have been making cheese with their own milk for a number of years, selling from their shop and online. When lockdown hit, their wholesale business dried up almost completely and so they innovated and pivoted their business. They now sell fresh milk, and hugely popular milkshakes from their new vending machines, as well as selling cheese and other local products from other businesses e.g. bacon, eggs etc. The vending machines have regularly sold out in the months since launch due to fantastic local support!
Necessity is sometimes the mother of invention and so tough times during Covid forced the Connage team to do things differently. They very rarely take time off and, for example, re-stock their vending machines themselves, operating them 7 days a week from 7am until 8pm. But local people love them and will visit time and time again to sample all the different milkshake flavours. Customers love the fact that their children are drinking a healthy organic product and the reusable glass milk bottles make this arm of the business as sustainable as possible.
The vending machines are promoted almost exclusively on social media, with many thousands of local people seeing the posts and coming down to visit, encouraged by both free tasting sessions and the high animal welfare exhibited by the farm. The opening hours also encourage people to visit even when their daily work lives are hectic - allowing more people to engage with, and buy from, this great local business, as well as the others that it supports.
Connage have clearly explained to their customers how healthy their milk is for adults and children alike, how focused they are on animal welfare and giving their cows the best possible lifestyle, and on their many efforts to farm in a way which benefits wildlife and the environment.
Milk vending machines and milkshakes aren't entirely unique but they are relatively unique in the very north of Scotland. Since opening, the Connage vending machines have become quite a sensation in the area, with people travelling many many miles to visit and enjoy.
Environmentally, the team at Connage have always been proud to play a part in maintaining Scotland's beautiful and bountiful landscape and this remains the case. Farm scale environmental management continues but in the public access areas the business also takes part in things such as 'No Mow May' to demonstrate to customers how smaller scale activities can benefit flora and fauna.
Animal welfare, environmental management and customer satisfaction are the three pillars on which the business is based and this continue to be the case, despite the challenges of the last two years. Since April 2021, Connage have sold 40,000 litres of milk through the vending machines, 30,000 of which have been flavoured with one of the delicious milkshake syrups!