Podcast Ep 231: Kildare business Killadoon Milk picked up the Best Start-up among a number of accolades at the Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards.
If you walk into any supermarket in Ireland, it is likely that they will proudly proclaim products that won the coveted Blas na hÉireann stamp of approval. And rightly so.
Among this year’s winners was a relatively young business called Killadoon Milk which won the ‘Best Start-up’ accolade, sponsored by Bank of Ireland, as well as Gold for Whole Milk, Best in Kildare and Best in Leinster.
“You are getting really creamy, delicious milk. And the biggest thing is there is no single use packaging from us to you. And that is the sustainability message in this”
Now in its 17th year, Blas na hÉireann saw another strong year from across all categories along with many new producers entering the awards for the first time this year.
During the judging, which took place over June and July, over 3,000 entries were judged. Products from every county in Ireland were entered to win bronze, silver or gold awards in over 170 food and drink categories, as well as key awards like Supreme Champion and Best Artisan Producer.
Raising a glass to success
Killadoon Milk is a family-owned business owned by husband and wife duo Martin and Vanessa Donovan.
Dedicated to producing the highest quality pasteurised whole milk from its own single source jersey-cross herd in Celbridge, Co Kildare, Kliladoon Milk is non-homogenised, meaning it is as unprocessed as possible, adding to its distinctive creaminess.
The business has established vending machines at premier stores such as Fallon & Byrne as well as select SuperValu stores and cafes where fresh milk is delivered daily and from which customers can fill bottles or make milkshakes in a variety of flavours.
ThinkBusiness caught up with Martin at Blas in Dingle. “We’re pastoring and pasteurising the milk from our cows on the farm and we deliver it to our vending machines.”
The vending machines are currently in five locations in Dublin and Kildare. “The idea is that in each store or café there are two vending machines; one stocked with empty glass bottles and the other is a milk vending machine. So you buy your bottle or you can bring one of your own and the machine dispenses whole milk or four flavours: chocolate, strawberry, salted caramel and banana.
“The whole idea is that you are getting your milk directly from the farmer. All we do is pasteurise it so it’s non-homogenised and you’re’ getting the best of everything from the cow.
“You are getting really creamy, delicious milk. And the biggest thing is there is no single use packaging from us to you. And that is the sustainability message in this.”
Donovan explained that Killadoon Farm was originally a beef and tillage farm. “We converted it in 2020 to dairy and for some reason I decided to take this hard tack of bringing the vending machines to stores. But I like a challenge.
“So we’re milking since 2020 and we’re quite a new farm. It was around the time of Covid that I saw some farms selling milk through vending machines from their actual farm. But our farm wasn’t really suitable for the public to come in because we’re outside Dublin. So we said we’d bring the milk to the consumer.”
The eureka moment for Martin and Vanessa came when they began producing the milk for themselves. “Then when we tasted it we realised there was quite a difference between what you buy as whole or full fat milk in the shops and what we ware actually drinking.
“We initially looked into doing raw milk but the different regulations would have been challenging. But then we saw these vending machines come along and that’s what led us down this path which was to try and get that quality and give it directly to the consumer.”
From a sustainability perspective, what Killadoon are doing makes a lot of sense. But what are his ambitions? “We’d like to keep it local in that it’s not something we’ll be doing nationwide. We will try to keep it close to the farm as such, to keep the mileage down, but essentially Dublin and North Kildare.”
The vending machines in SuperValu stores, he says, are particularly popular for parents and kids.
Donovan added that exposure via Fallon & Byrne since installing their first machine in its store a year ago has made Killadoon popular with the foodie brigade. “It’s a great spot to showcase it to chefs and foodies. We’ve had a lot of requests to get into butter and yoghurt. So we’ll crack this one first and see how it goes.”
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