Founded over lockdown by Doyin Sogbesan and set to launch a full service in early 2021, Goodness M*lk will be delivered in glass bottles, true to milkman style. Once you collect nine, your 10th bottle is a freebie. Doyin tells us how she got started.

Q.

Where did the idea to hand-deliver plant-based milks come from?

A. ‘I was making my own milk during lockdown because every time I went to buy some, it was all out of stock. At the same time, people were engaging with lots of cooking-related content while in quarantine. I thought then that there might be a good, already validated market for this. I put it out on Twitter and we hit 280,000 impressions pretty quickly.’

Q.

Why do you think people were so excited about it?

A. ‘The idea of a milkman coming to your door is a nostalgic experience. We’re offering that nostalgia in a fun, finessed and bespoke way. We’ll even play the music you want us to when we deliver the milks to you! We’re also trying to build a community based on user-generated content – we love to see what people are doing with the milks.’

Q.

You plan to deliver around London on bikes and in cars. Have you got a team together?

A. ‘At the moment it’s just my family and friends doing the deliveries with me, but we’re in the process of trying to get a van, which is exciting. That said, we won’t be delivering every day – there will be predefined slots. We don’t want to end up churning out thousands of milks.’

Q.

When demand starts to grow, how will you scale up the operation?

A. ‘We’re looking into a small-size factory in London in the medium term. But if the demand goes out of proportion immediately as we launch, there are a number of options: we could run on a scarcity model or we could outsource our delivery with platforms like UberEats and Deliveroo. The risk there is that that doesn’t uphold the brand.’

Q.

Finally, what are you most excited about with the launch of Goodness M*lk?

A. ‘We’ve been testing and getting feedback in this phase of our development, but I’m most excited about engaging more people. We want to build up our subscription list, a referral scheme and storytelling content to talk about the benefits of converting to plant milk.’

This article was first published in Courier issue 39, February/March 2021. To purchase the issue or become a subscriber, head to our webshop.