#FeedTheNation: Dairy sees doorstep sales soar during Covid
© Kerr's Dairy A family-run dairy business in Scotland has seen its doorstep delivery numbers soar amid the coronavirus pandemic as more customers put their trust in local produce and service.
Kerr’s Dairy has its work cut out with nearly 300 new customers signing up each week.
The firm says it is the only local dairy left in Dundee that supplies products directly to the doorstep, and a second site opened in Aberdeen in June has been inundated with orders.
See also: #FeedTheNation: Honesty box helps ice-cream business beat Covid
Director Kelvin Kerr Jnr now oversees delivery to 6,000 customers in Aberdeen and 5,000 in Dundee.
The Aberdeen team delivers as far north as Fraserburgh and south to Stonehaven, while the Dundee depot deals with all orders south of Laurencekirk.
At the height of lockdown, Mr Kerr employed taxi drivers who were out of work to help keep up with the deliveries. The dairy now has 40 full-time staff across the two sites.
Mr Kerr told Farmers Weekly: “It is great we have been able to help people out and support the local communities.
“We work with McQueens Dairies, which is another family-run dairy, and our supply comes from First Milk. The average order for a customer is four pints a week, often two on a Monday and two on a Thursday, at 85p a pint.”
Cheese, butter, orange juice, eggs and yoghurt have also been in high demand, especially for customers who struggled to get to the shops during lockdown.
Mr Kerr added: “We didn’t realise how much the service meant to people and how much they really needed it.
“The drivers did take pride in the service they were providing and during the lockdown we would alter routes as much as we could to help people out.”
Decades of deliveries
The dairy has been delivering milk in Scotland for more than 120 years. Mr Kerr was appointed director in 2012, having been involved with the family business since 1996 when he was aged just 12.
Moray beef farmer Jock Gibson has also seen a huge increase in demand for his produce.
He owns and runs Macbeth’s Butchers in Forres, a 20min drive from his farm and adapted to increase local and national delivery of his Highland, Shorthorn and Aberdeen Angus beef when restaurants were closed.
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