What kind of milk is most popular in coffee shops?

If you have your own coffee shop, besides coffee beans, what raw materials do you think are indispensable?

In Fox’s eyes, where there is coffee, there must be high-quality milk. Whether it is ultra-high temperature sterilized pure milk (commonly known as long-life milk or reconstituted milk) or pasteurized fresh milk, the classic CP of milk + coffee can definitely beat everything and quickly capture the hearts of coffee fans who are just getting started.

So, what kind of milk can conquer the picky cafe owners?

First of all, good stability is the most reliable guarantee.

Secondly, the milky aroma should not take away the taste of coffee.

Finally, the milk foam should be dense and smooth after whipping.

Therefore, fresh milk is the best companion for a good cup of Italian milk coffee. It is also the only choice for those paranoid baristas, bartenders, store managers and boutique coffee shops where big names in the coffee circle are located.

So, there is a Xiamen milk uncle who calls himself a high-end fresh milk carrier. He has a very high reputation and influence in the local coffee circle in Xiamen. You can definitely see him at various coffee-related exhibitions or competitions in Xiamen and even Fujian (even if he is alone, he can still be very excited).

Moreover, he is always surrounded by many god-level figures. We can hear his laughter within a 2-meter radius with him as the center. He is a fat uncle who laughs like Maitreya Buddha, likes to "flirt" with all female baristas, and even said that "the baristas who gave him a bear hug later won the championship."

If the world of coffee also has martial arts masters like the world of martial arts novels, then the naughty old boy Zhou Botong created by Mr. Jin Yong should be the most vivid metaphor to describe him.

Recently, Fox visited his milk world, which includes two constant temperature cold storages as big as houses . If you are not wearing thick enough clothes, you will be frozen into a human popsicle immediately after entering the cold storage. Several constant temperature cold chain vehicles equipped with mobile GPS temperature control equipment also ensure the best transportation environment for his fresh milk supply .

The fox was actually very curious about him. What kind of person could run such a troublesome business as quality fresh milk and yet still appear so happy?

His smile may conceal some of the sorrow he has experienced.

What does the fresh milk business represent to him? And what kind of person is he? Why does he have such high praise from everyone who has come into contact with him?

Today, let’s go into Uncle Milk’s world of fresh milk with the fox and listen to his journey with milk.

Let's talk about a 50 cent day

Fox: Come on, let's not tell jokes today, let's have a serious chat. Fresh milk is actually a hard business with high capital and low profits, and your old business - freight forwarding logistics and shipping industry - is very different from the dairy product distribution business. Why did you choose such a large-scale cross-border project as your sideline business?

Uncle Milk: Before 2012, there were only one or two common local brands of pasteurized fresh milk on the Xiamen market. Local people were still confused about the difference between pasteurized fresh milk and ultra-high temperature sterilized long-life milk. Many people even took the word "pasteurized" which represents the sterilization method as a fresh milk brand. Due to concerns about the domestic food safety pass rate, I was really worried that the milk I gave my children was added with preservatives or antibiotic residues. So to be honest, I was actually very nervous every time I gave my children local brand fresh milk...

It happened that I took my wife and children to Hong Kong Disneyland that year. In the morning, out of habit, I picked up a box of fresh milk and a sandwich from the shelf of the 7-11 convenience store for my child's breakfast. As a result, the child said to me after opening the milk and swallowing the first mouthful, "Dad, this milk is different from the milk at home. It doesn't have the fishy smell of milk. It's smooth and sweet." My wife is a person who has a low acceptance of dairy products. She was also shocked after drinking it. She said that there was no fishy smell at all and the taste was particularly good. So I looked at the brand carefully. It was a fresh milk called "Wei Kee Milk". Because of my love for the taste and flavor, and because Hong Kong's food safety has never been lower than 99.99% of the qualified rate over the years. My wife and I agreed at the time that after returning to Xiamen, we must buy this fresh milk for our children to drink, which is more assured and safe!

But when we returned to Xiamen, we searched all supermarkets and couldn't find Weiji's fresh milk. It wasn't until we saw the milk they used in McDonald's that we realized that McDonald's was the only one in Xiamen that had it, but it wasn't sold to the public. Later, my wife and children kept talking about this matter all day long. Under their "instigation", I realized that this was also a business opportunity, so I started looking for Weiji's contact information on the Internet. It just so happened that Weiji's manufacturer also wanted to expand the market in Xiamen at that time. The two sides "hit it off", and Xiamen Weiji began to appear.

Fresh milk business with tons of problems

Fox: Being a fresh milk carrier is very hard work, and there are many problems that need to be solved one by one. What is the most difficult and troublesome problem for you? How did you solve it?

Uncle Nai: I come from a logistics background, so the transportation of fresh milk does not cause me much trouble. The most troublesome problems are actually the shelving of goods, brand operation and product distribution .

We all know that pasteurized milk is very "proud". The temperature of the delivery vehicle, the environment, and the best time to drink it are all pain points . Once a mistake is made in any link, the entire batch of milk must be withdrawn and destroyed.

At the beginning, I defined this brand as safe milk, which can be drunk by the whole family, both adults and children, and is convenient to buy. So I chose the supermarket channel, expecting that it would be sold out as soon as it was put on the shelves. But I didn't expect that the goods were returned almost intact a week after they were put on the shelves. This shocked me because it was so different from my original expectation.

In addition to this problem, product distribution is also a headache for me. I chose a supermarket with many outlets, and I had to figure out how to distribute the milk myself. I was the only one at the time. Although there was a distribution company that could help me with the distribution of milk, because Weiji's milk was very special, I had the most requirements among all milk suppliers. After a long time, the delivery masters got tired of me and hid when they saw me. There were even losses caused by random packaging and temperature errors.

These two problems almost caused me to suffer heavy losses. Seeing truckloads of milk eventually end up in landfills, I felt really heavy-hearted. I couldn't understand why such a good thing couldn't be sold.

Then I specially picked a time to visit a supermarket that sells milk and looked at the flow of people in the supermarket and its positioning, and I immediately found the crux of the problem. Every product has its own target group. When a good product enters a market that is not suitable for it, it is like making coffee without water, which is wrong no matter what.

It was not until later that I started working with Yuanchu that things started to get better. I worked with them for a long time, and the things I learned and the experience I gained were all very valuable. The person in charge of Weiji also gave me a lot of support when I started working in the market. At that time, I had never been involved in work related to fast-moving consumer goods, so I always asked them for advice, and they were very helpful in various ways, which was really touching.

We used to watch Hong Kong movies such as "Young and Dangerous". From my point of view, both Hong Kong people and Hong Kong-funded enterprises have a culture of putting righteousness first, which has provided great help to downstream manufacturers.

The road to Rome

Fox: It was so difficult to do business in the supermarket channel at that time. Did you ever think of giving up? What was the most rewarding thing about the cooperation with Yuanchu?

Uncle Milk: I really thought about it at that time, but life is so wonderful. When you are in a low point, God will always let you meet someone who can help you. I just happened to meet that person at that time. It was also by chance that I became the supplier of Yuanchu fresh milk brand.

At that time, Yuanchu had only 5 stores in Xiamen. Strangely, some stores had very good sales, while some were very unsatisfactory. As a businessman, one must be good at observing and discovering problems. I went to several stores with poor sales to observe. It was then that I realized that the location of the goods on the shelves and the situation of the gifts are all very important. Slowly, after a period of adjustment, things began to get better.

Fresh milk supply for coffee circle

Fox: How did you get involved in the coffee industry? Now, 90% of the boutique coffee shops in Xiamen use the fresh milk that you represent, and everyone you have come into contact with has given you unanimous praise, which is not easy.

Uncle Nai: Actually, I didn’t think about getting involved in the supply of fresh milk for the catering industry at that time, and I was a little reluctant inside. But later, the channel manager of Weiji said to me earnestly, “Brother Nai, you have to know that in the Guangdong market, Weiji’s market share for catering stores accounts for a very large proportion of the total business share. This can be learned from or replicated in Xiamen and then promoted…”

Even though he said this to me, I still couldn't get rid of my slowness and rejection. Until one day, A Lian from Chujiayuan found me and discussed the issue of fresh milk supply. At that time, I didn't know that the person who talked to me about fresh milk supply was the youngest CBC champion in China in 2013. Since there was an opportunity for cooperation, I definitely didn't want to give up and would not let it go easily. Since I had decided on something, I would insist on completing it.

Gradually, the “big guys” in Xiamen’s coffee circle started looking for me to supply fresh milk, and I gradually became the fresh milk supplier for Xiamen’s boutique coffee shops.

It was not until later that I realized that baristas had very strict requirements for good milk, and Wei Kee just met their standards at the time. As for my good popularity in the circle, in addition to my personality, it may also be because I am eager to help others, think from their perspective, and do my best to help the owners solve the problem of fresh milk.

That is how we have gradually accumulated and developed to our current scale through product stability, timely delivery and meticulous attention to milk quality.

Latte art practice milk, only for free, not for sale

Fox : I see that you have your own bar in your office area, and everyone uses this bar as a shared latte art platform to exchange techniques. Why do you want to do such a thing?

Uncle Milk: I mentioned earlier that Wei Kee’s pasteurized milk is actually very “proud”. For example, weather conditions are also a very critical factor affecting the quality of fresh milk.

As you know, Xiamen has a lot of good weather, but the weather is not something that we mortals can predict. There are also many times when the situation takes a sharp turn for the worse, which will cause problems with the quality of milk. When I can't sell a lot of milk, what should I do? I use it as practice milk for latte art. Baristas have a great demand for practice milk, but after all, there are too many people and too little porridge, and delivery is also a problem. It is not appropriate to always let my own delivery staff deliver it, so I arranged such an area in my office, firstly to make my company popular, and secondly to communicate more with young people.

My practice milk is always given away, not sold. If you need it, come to my place to practice, even if you use up all the milk in the refrigerator.

The boss and the milkman

Fox: In your circle of friends, I always see you following your delivery drivers everywhere, running around with them, and treating your delivery drivers to "big meals". Even when I contacted you just now, I heard from your voice that you seemed to have just delivered milk and were still taking a break. Isn't such a down-to-earth boss too approachable?

Uncle Milk: There are two types of bosses. One type sits in the office and "commands". To me, that is just talk. The other type starts from the grassroots level and does things personally after becoming a boss. I think the second type is exactly my portrayal. I have only one requirement for my employees. Whatever I ask you to do, I must do it myself. And it is achievable. Principles cannot be touched. Normally, we can get along like brothers. After all, if they are comfortable and happy at work, the situation of my milk can be better guaranteed, and invisible losses can be reduced. I can feel their hard work. After all, I started from the front line like them.

The development history and planning of Uncle Milk and Uncle Milk's fresh milk carrier

Fox: Uncle Nai, you entered the dairy industry and gradually grew and prospered because you first made Wee Kee Milk. So now, in addition to the "Wee Kee Milk" brand, are you also developing agents and distributors for other brands?

Uncle Milk: Of course! Since Uncle Milk is now positioned as a "high-end fresh milk carrier", I must help my customers and "milk powder" to find more high-end fresh milk that is worthy of the title of high-end fresh milk carrier! Haha, but I still have standards and attitudes when choosing products and brands. First of all, we don't make room temperature milk, and we don't make fresh milk that is not popular in the coffee and catering industry. We are currently the agent and distributor of the entire series of Weiji products in the entire Fujian region. In addition, we have also taken over the "Weiquan Refrigerated Milk" that is only for catering and only for the Xiamen market to supply the Xiamen coffee and catering market. Next, we are also considering and contacting the Meiji "Meiji Yichun" milk produced by "Meiji Dairy" to be the agent and distributor for the Xiamen coffee and catering market. These three brands are also the three most popular refrigerated fresh milks in the Xiamen coffee and catering industry.

Fox's words

Maybe in your mind, Uncle Nai is just a mobile emoticon. He can say anything humorous that you can't think of. At an old age, he shed three kilograms of tears to get a big flower tattoo on his arm, just because the tattoo artist he had been thinking about for a long time and liked happened to have a discount.

Although he is a fat uncle who can flirt with all kinds of female baristas, from the two-hour chat, Fox felt that he was a person who was willing to solve problems with a positive attitude and would not easily give up his ideas. He was a person who once delivered fresh milk to the ordering party under the scorching sun, and gritted his teeth to maintain his reputation and products no matter in the remote Xiang'an District or the crowded Gulangyu District; he was also a person who tried every means to build a brand and cultivate the market because he was reluctant to let his fresh milk end up in the landfill, and he was very resilient.

Many times, it only takes a moment to spot a business opportunity, but how many people can actually turn that opportunity into market and word of mouth?