Village Milk began as a venture from Golden Bay farmers Mark and Phillippa Houston, who wanted to find a new way to provide milk to their local community. Partnering with leading European dispensary brand DF Italia, the couple began selling raw milk from their farm.
Village Milk has grown exponentially and now trades under Village Vending in the care of managing director Richard Houston, the son of Mark and Philippa. Village Vending acts as a consultant for farms nationwide, distributing DF Italia dispensers and supporting the sale of raw and pasteurised milk, including farms, Fernside Fresh, Buttercup Dairies, Humpbridge Milk, and more.
Houston detailed that the dispensers were intelligent systems that could be installed inside a store or easily transportable once incorporated inside a trailer. The first dispenser purchased by the Houston family 11 years ago still operates with high efficiency and quality, which Houston attributes to the premium nature of DF Italia’s equipment.
Making these solutions available within prominent supermarkets has proved difficult. Houston stated that the existing partnership agreements larger supermarkets have means that they are under obligation to sell milk supplied by a specific producer. This has been how New Zealanders have bought milk for years. Houston criticised it as wasteful, considering milk could be many days old and have been transported from a large centre where it is processed and bottled. The carbon footprint of this transportation and bottling method is something that Houston said could be easily avoided if more supermarkets and retailers embraced local farmers and dispensary units into the store.
Read more about what Houston had to say below, starting on page 58:
