大象传媒

12 August 2021

Farm launches 24/7 milkshake vending machine during Covid pandemic

Young farmer Ifan Beynon -Thomas shared his story on Young, Welsh & Bossin’ It on 大象传媒 One Wales.

Ifan Beynon-Thomas’ family dairy farm was hit hard at the start of the pandemic; “Our milk was sold to hospitality, aeroplanes, train stations. Obviously they all shut overnight. It’s just a collapse for us. We didn’t get paid for two months, we had to tip milk down the drain, which is heart-breaking when you’re doing all the work for it.”

With the family farm facing financial ruin, the young farmer decided to use a Government bounce-back loan to build a pasteurising room and invested in a 24-hour self-serve milkshake vending machine, serving the freshest, creamiest milk produced by their prize-winning Holstein Friesian herd.

Ifan knew he’d need good social media presence if his new venture was to become successful, so he began promoting his vending machine even before he was up and running. “We started on social media about six weeks before launching, just to get a little bit of hype and try to give an insight into farming life.”

Ifan originally bought 5,000 empty bottles for the venture. “My father thought I was stupid, really”, says the young, Welsh entrepreneur – but he needn’t have worried, they sold all of them in 12 days! On their first day of trading they had people queuing even before the doors opened, and the queues have never ended. They now go through 200-400 bottles a day and have had customers travelling from as far afield as Bournemouth.

Ifan says “People come here to have a meet and a catch up while having a bit of milkshake. It’s nice because at the same time it’s supporting a small local business, which is what we should all be doing.”