A short history of the Milk Pail
In 1974, Silicon Valley was filled with young, bright-eyed engineers with a gift for tinkering and programming. Their visionary enthusiasm for computers, born out of garages in Palo Alto and Los Altos, resulted in the founding of some of the most influential companies in the world.
Over the course of 45 years in business, the Milk Pail evolved from a 70s era drive-thru dairy to an eclectic international foods market. It developed a cult-like following amongst cheese lovers, fresh produce junkies, old world grandmothers, Stanford grad students, hi-tech workers, and everyone in between. The common dominator at the Milk Pail was simple: an appreciation for high quality, gourmet, and unique foods from around the world at a budget.
In the same year, my dad Steve also founded a business, but it had a lot less to do with microprocessors and a lot more to do with cheese. The Milk Pail Market was born in Mountain View, California back when drive-thru dairies were a common one-stop-shop for moms in their VW station wagons. Since the early days of the business, the Milk Pail remained committed to providing high quality food products to the Mid-Peninsula community.
My family closed the Milk Pail in 2019, after a 45 year run in the same Mountain View location. The area around us was changing. As Silicon Valley rapidly expanded to house the tech behemoths of Google, Apple, Facebook, the rapid rate of property development meant that local mom ‘n pop businesses were getting pushed out. The landscape of the local community was evolving quickly, and not in a good way. The closure of the Milk Pail in June 2019 signified to many the “End of an Era”.
Former Milk Pail Market in Mountain View, CA
The Milk Pail Drive-Thru: Pandemic Edition
March 2020 - February 2021
In March 2020, 9 months after the closure of the brick and mortar store, I was in the midst of my final spring break at UC Berkeley. It was one month into quarantine, and toilet paper and canned goods were flying off the grocery shelves. People were stuck at home, with limited access to food and groceries, and with no idea when this period of isolation was coming to an end. Fear, uncertainty, and discomfort became the new normal. It was during these early weeks of the pandemic that I was struck with an idea: what if we brought the Milk Pail brand back, but redesigned to fit the needs of these unprecedented circumstances?
Within 4 weeks, I designed and launched the Milk Pail Drive-Thru (2020) -- an online ordering platform that coordinated weekly, contactless grocery pickups. Over 45 years later, Milk Pail history came full circle.
The Challenge
My preliminary challenge was to come up with the concept of this new iteration of the Milk Pail brand. We were thrust into very different circumstances from our former 45 years in business. There was a global pandemic on our hands, our brick-and-mortar storefront no longer existed, and I wanted to launch as soon as possible.
While we no longer had a physical storefront, I had a few key resources at my disposal. We still had a lease agreement on our warehouse space in Mountain View, which I repurposed as the new headquarters. I also had an email contact list of around 8,000 former store customers, as well as a robust social media following.
The main constraints in building out the concept lay in the scope of what we could offer. I knew that we didn't have the capacity to compete with Instacart, Good Eggs, or other platforms that delivered a customized cart of groceries straight to your door. Instead, I took it on as an exciting challenge to build the business around limitations.
The Concept
I fleshed out the Milk Pail Drive-Thru concept around a couple key realizations:
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Consumers were seeking alternative methods of grocery shopping beyond conventional stores. Online ordering platforms and delivery services became highly in-demand.
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The pandemic quickly forced many people to spend much more time in their kitchens, whether they liked it or not.
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People were looking for comfort and security during this challenging and unprecedented time. Food - eating, cooking, and sharing - became an important outlet during the pandemic.
Our inaugural product offering was the Milk Pail Essentials Kit
Core concept: online marketplace with curated selection of products. Contactless pickup once a week in designated location. Providing customers with high quality food while maintaining social distance and efficiency
The Research
In March 2020, I sent out an email survey to our contact list of around 8,000 customers who wanted to stay in touch following the closure of the store. In less than eight hours, we received 1,800 responses — nearly all expressing enthusiastic excitement for a new iteration of the Milk Pail.
Being closed for 9 months, I had no idea what to expect. After the survey response, I knew that there was a serious opportunity on my hands. I jumped in head first -- within 4 weeks the first pickup of the Milk Pail Drive-Thru was in operation.
Execution & Operations
Executing my vision of the Milk Pail Drive-Thru involved an initial assessment and prioritization of the most critical aspects of the business. I gave myself a timeline of 4 weeks to get the Drive-Thru up and running, and to do so involved an extremely expedited game plan.
Each of the following areas were integral to not only the launch of the business, but to operating the Drive-Thru week after week.
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Customer outreach and marketing
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Creating an online marketplace
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Product sourcing
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Vendor relationships
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Warehouse operations
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Hiring employees
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Inventory management
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Saturday pick-up logistics
Customer Outreach & Marketing
Our primary communication channel with our customers was through Constant Contact marketing emails. Every Tuesday at noon, the menu for the week would be sent out via email newsletter, showcasing the newest meal kits, latest restaurant collaborations, and other fun surprises. The email would directly link to our online store, where customers could begin placing their orders. These weekly "drops" proved to be very effective in igniting customer anticipation and generating sales.
We maintained a social media presence on Facebook and Instagram to advertise our weekly offerings, as well as utilizing ads to attract new customers.
Other marketing strategies included running ads in the local Daily Post newspaper, flyering in populated downtown areas, and spreading the word through Nextdoor.
Online Marketplace
We created the new Milk Pail Drive-Thru online marketplace on Shopify. The platform made it easy for us to customize the online store to our exact specifications, from enabling an ability to select time-slots for pick-up, to implementing special pricing on sale items. We wanted to make the website accessible to all of our customers, and kept that in close mind while designing it. The interface was simple to navigate, enabling customers to find the products they love with ease. The backend store features of Shopify helped us manage inventory and place orders efficiently and accurately.
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Product Development
Milk Pail Essentials Kit
The onset of the pandemic and its affects on consumer food purchases inspired the development of our core product offering. The Milk Pail Essentials Kit launched as a curated selection of tried-and-true Milk Pail favorites from the aisles of the original store. Gourmet cheeses and pantry staples, fresh bread, sweet treats, and our famous frozen croissants. As one customer described it, the Essentials Kit is like a thoughtful gift package from your foodie friend.
Milk Pail Produce Basket
Our second product launch was the Milk Pail Produce Basket, an assortment of seasonal fruits and vegetables hand-selected by us. When the Milk Pail Drive-Thru started up, I knew that offering some type of produce would be inevitable. The abundant produce selection was one of the most beloved features of the brick-and-mortar Milk Pail. However, I was also well aware that the logistics of selling produce would be no easy feat. Working within the constraints of the Drive-Thru, I realized that it would be impossible to offer our customers the luxury of choice. Instead, we would eliminate the need for decision-making on the customer side, and offer a mixed selection of fruits and veggies in one convenient package. The produce basket ended up becoming our top-selling product over the course of the Drive-Thru.
Meal Kits
Milk Pail Meal Kits launched within the first few weeks of the Drive-Thru. The Milk Pail offered customers an easy way to pick-up groceries; why not make it easy to cook those groceries too? And with many more people spending much more time cooking at home, culinary creativity and experimentation became an inevitable byproduct of the pandemic. For folks short on time and mental energy to think about their next meal, our meal kits offered a nice change from the typical weeknight dinner fare. From gourmet pizza kits to DIY poke bowls, we offered our customers an opportunity to travel the world from the comfort of their kitchens.
Add-On Products
While our customers loved the Essentials Kits and Produce Baskets, there came the inevitable question: how can you be the Milk Pail and not sell MILK?! We quickly decided that it made sense to start offering everyday staples as Add-Ons, including milk, eggs, bread, our famous frozen croissants, ice cream, and more. By the final week of the Drive-Thru, our Add-On selection reached over 80 different products.
Local Business Collaborations
As our Add-On selection started to grow, we took the opportunity to introduce our customer base to interesting local foodmakers, as well as collaborate with restaurants to sell homemade frozen meals. At a time when the pandemic seriously affected the economy of local restaurants, we wanted to offer another way these businesses could say afloat. By adding frozen restaurant meals and other local products to our store, this enabled restaurants to generate supplemental income and continue to employ their workforce.
Community Outreach
Many people were affected by the sudden economic repercussions of the pandemic. A direct result of this economic slowdown was food insecurity. We started a program at the Drive-Thru called "Pay-it-Forward" produce bags, in which customers could purchase a $20 bag of produce that would be donated to local families in need. We also began donating produce, non-perishable goods, and cheese to local non-profits that provided meals or delivered groceries to folks in need. Quickly, we saw that the demand for food by these local non-profits was far greater than anything we expected. The Milk Pail had the vendor connections to obtain overstocked groceries and produce -- why not partner with our customers who had the financial means to contribute? If the Milk Pail and our customers teamed up, it was our hope that we could fund a meaningful food shortage need in our local community. After three months, the Pay-it-Forward fund had accumulated over $ 25,000 in food donations.
Warehouse Operations
The successful implementation of the Drive-Thru ultimately all boiled down to warehouse operations. We were operating on a very tight weekly timeline, juggling many balls in the air and hoping that none of them would fall. From the moment the week's menu was released on Tuesday, the pressure was on to source all of the products that we offered in our online store.
WEEKLY OPERATIONS TIMELINE
Tuesday AM: Last minute scramble to update all menu items of the week on the online store. Calling up vendors to make sure that we can secure product for delivery. By 12PM, the online store is open for business. Customers can begin placing their orders.
Wednesday: Orders are placed with most vendors for delivery on Thursday. Cross-checking existing inventory in the warehouse to ensure that we don't over-order.
Thursday: Warehouse packers begin prepping product for the week. Deliveries begin arriving in the AM throughout the day. Anything that can be prepared in advance (bulk food processing, non-perishable meal kits, etc) are done on this day.
Friday 3AM: Produce run to the South SF Wholesale Produce Market. Wheeling and dealing with produce vendors at the early hours of the morning to get the best deals on bulk produce.
Friday 9AM: Most critical prep day of the week. Staff of ~10 employees on hand to pack bags, beginning with Produce Baskets. Long day of multitasking and putting out of fires. A typical Friday would include assembling an average of 250 Produce Baskets, 60 Essentials Kits, and 120 Meal Kits.
Saturday 7AM: Employees arrive to begin setting up the Drive-Thru pick up operation. Any last minute bags that need to be assembled are completed.
Saturday 9AM - 4PM: The Drive-Thru is open for business. Let the fun begin!
Customer Feedback
Over the course of 10 months operating the Drive-Thru, we regularly sent out feedback surveys to our customers in order to better understand what they enjoyed about their experience, and how we could improve. We attentively listened to their suggestions and feedback, making proactive changes week after week based on our customers. The Drive-Thru was a dedicated service to our customers -- and we wanted to do everything in our power to fulfill their needs. We addressed mistakes quickly and efficiently in order to guarantee customer satisfaction.
Notes from our Fans
I've gotten both the large and small essentials boxes, and the cheese extravaganza, and many add ons. I also get flowers every week. You've been very responsive to questions and I'm grateful for all you offer. Excellent quality. Great, efficient service! Keep it up!
We love you! Please keep on going!
Thanks for being a bright spot in a strange time! Our family loved the Essentials Kit and are hoping it will continue. Thank you again!!
LOVE the pizza kits - we really enjoyed the peach, basil and prosciutto idea.
LOVE the idea of being surprised. Reality was that I am not crazy about homemade pizza and the many oranges in the produce bag were not ideal because we have an orange tree. But otherwise everything was great and the freshness of the produce is still Milk Pail unbeatable. The pickup was extremely efficient and a pleasure. I will do this again because the fun of being surprised with great stuff still outweighs the minor disappointments.
What an adventure to peek into the box to find items that we’d forgotten we really enjoyed. Digestive biscuits, croissants, whole milk, granola, peaches and a few other wonderful surprises. Thank heaven for a recipe for the favA beans, a real chore, for a cup of bean dip. Looking forward to our Saturday pick up.
I loved this kit! It would be great to offer different sizes if possible (I have a household of 2). I would order a kit more frequently if the serving sizes were smaller, but I would definitely support and reorder in the future because it was such a bright light to have some nice treats during this unsettling time of ours.
Looking forward to seeing what's different about the "Milk Pail essentials" each week. It will definitely be a *splurge* purchase for my partner and me, but we love the variety. LOVING the add-ons, especially the desserts! :)
Thank you! You guys are AWESOME! And please bring back Peter James coffee.
I really appreciate how you care about your customers and community. Mistakes happen and you are fast to acknowledge and reconcile them. It would be nice to have more à la carte choices. Apple season is coming, I hope you will have gravenstein apples, a lot of them!
I love the surprises in both the essentials kits and produce bags. Quality is excellent. Thank you so much for doing this.
I was lucky enough to pick up a kit and the wife and I absolutely loved it. We were also able to gift one of the kits and the recipients loved them as well.
Our loyal customers in the Drive-Thru line
In the Press
KQED
Palo Alto Weekly
KTVU Channel 2 News
San Jose Mercury News
Lessons From Milk Pail 2.0
Putting all the pieces of the Milk Pail Drive-Thru together in the midst of a global pandemic remains one of the most challenging, exhilarating, and rewarding experiences of my life.
It was truly remarkable to see such a positive response for a new, out-of-the-box reinvention of an old business.
During the span of the Drive-Thru, I did every job, from head of operations to social media manager, from sourcing manager to produce buyer. In order to know how to run the business, I had to get a complete firsthand experience in the business itself -- from the big picture to the tiniest of details. I thrived in the creativity and intensity of wearing so many hats and taking on so many responsibilities.
After 10 months, the pandemic seemed to be turning a positive corner. But I was fast-approaching extreme burn out. I made the hard decision to close the business and look ahead to my future steps -- to take a break from grocery, move far away from California, and do what I always only dreamed of: to travel the world. Along the way, I made sure to explore as many grocery stores, street markets, and hidden food corners as I could find. At the end of the day, I know that the intersection of food and business will always be with me, no matter where in the world I am.
The Rundown
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Total time in operation: 10 months
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Total orders: 17,042
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Total unique customers: 4,052
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Total sales generated: $ 1.3 million
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Average order value: $77.56
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Returning customer rate: 37.43 %
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Conversion rate: 10.66 %
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Top product: Milk Pail Produce Basket (7,000 units sold)