Typically, I use this platform to write gentle self-deprecating humour, and I try to be reasonably honest with our joys and challenges.
Today I am going for shameless self-promotion.
Sorry, but we are on a journey to build a legacy business of which our family, friends and local community can be proud.
An earlier mentor told me “never be embarrassed to ask for help and support, there is nothing surer than if you don’t ask, you don’t get”.
Yes, our chocolate milk has disappeared from the local Coles store but it is for the long-term greater good as we are in transition from direct supply to the Swan Hill store to supplying 40 Coles stores – so there is just a little understandable lag while the new system is set up and product is delivered from the Coles Melbourne distribution centre back to Swan Hill.
And to other stores ranging, from Mildura to Myrtleford, Wodonga to Apollo Bay, and Warrnambool to Ballarat.
So, if you’re reading this anytime in the next few weeks and if you see a Bethune Lane Chocolate Milk in a Coles store in regional Victoria, feel free to show us you care by buying one (I mean, they are not terrible so it shouldn’t be too big a burden to support us). Out of the 40 stores there are only one or two towns where we currently have a presence, so from a brand awareness point of view it’s a great opportunity for us.
Please continue to also support our loyal regular stockists – they have truly been, and continue to be, amazing.
It feels like we have lifted a gear in the past three months, we are now buying bulk chocolate by the pallet.
At the same time our chocolate milk orders to Harris Farm Markets supermarkets in New South Wales have nearly doubled.
We are in fact out of space in our little milk enhancement centre.
Realistically we urgently need a milk separator so we can do a light milk and cream and butter, we urgently need a higher capacity homogeniser, we need our own laboratory, we need a bottle labeler for the chocolate milk, we need a bigger yoghurt incubator but, most importantly, we need floor space and cool-room capacity.
I don’t want to sound needy, but this is a capital hungry business, and the investment always comes well before the hopeful return, so hopefully we will be able to (probably) afford just one of the essential items I listed.
Three years ago, when we first bottled milk, we took our product into Swan Hill Wholesalers in a little cool-room trailer that was hand stacked and would battle to handle transport 500kg or half a pallet.
Last week, on one of our three delivery trips, we had to juggle to fit everything in our eight-pallet delivery truck.
In effect we are transitioning from a micro business to a small business.
We know the community is behind us, but don’t be afraid to show it by drinking chocolate milk.
