Beach Rd Milk Kiosk & Kaitake farm

The Beach Road Milk Kiosk is an innovative direct-to-consumer food retailing site located on the street frontage of a wholly organic and regenerative farm. The Kiosk is a retail outlet for Beach Road Milk's A2 raw milk, supplied through a user-operated vending machine. Several producers are working in collaboration to sell their produce from the Kiosk as well. There is an array of organic vegetables from Kaitake Farm (another local small-scale grower), bread, avocadoes, honey and jams, free-range eggs and berries from other local growers.

I speak with farm owners Megan and Ryan, querying why they produce A2 milk and how the kiosk model works. Their key motivation is to produce whole milk, which is 100% organic, easily digestible, and without the regular environmental impacts of traditional dairy farm production. They have transformed a 3rd generation traditional family dairy farm into a RA model. "It's an intense job," says Megan. She and Ryan put in a lot of hard work constantly. From researching vending machines and managing the transition to regenerative farming, producing raw A2 milk necessitates time and effort. The milk is loaded into a dispensing machine. Tokens and sterilized bottles are available in a further vending machine.

I ask customers why they choose to shop here, and they reply with health-based reasons, the "satisfaction of choosing healthy food". Most families drink at least a litre per day of the A2 milk, primarily because of its taste. People say they are keen to buy it because of its purported health benefits, lack of added extras, and the fact that it is A2 milk which is more easily digestible by humans. All the people I spoke to were regular shoppers, coming to the kiosk since it opened or "for ages". The customers say they like to support the business because it is local, and so are the other small-scale suppliers who offer produce at the Kiosk. I noted that at least ¾ of the customers purchased produce in addition to the milk. A few comment that the Kaitake Farm produce is a bit expensive, but most people identify that it is a premium product which is organic, spray-free, local, fresh, and healthy and therefore accept the price or do not purchase because of that fact. Some people grow their own vegetables, so they are not focused on purchasing those from the Kiosk. However, all customers are choosing the kiosk in addition to supermarkets or other sources.

The Kiosk has a large carpark with space for shoppers to pull in outside the door. It is easy for people to park, recycle their bottles, dispense their fresh milk, and purchase other items. Shoppers say it is "super easy and convenient" to make this stop a part of their daily routine. A few tell me they drink far more milk now because of the taste and health properties, and they say it has become a core component of their children's diet. They say this would not be the case if they were drinking regular milk from the supermarket.

While I imagine the volume of produce traded at the kiosk does not compare with that of a supermarket, it is enough to support Kaitake Farm financially. It is one of a very small list of distribution points for them – they travel from the neighbouring community three minutes away to stock the kiosk. Toby from Kaitake pops in to restock his fridge and shelves with produce while I am there. He tells me that he sends out a text when he is on his way from the farm to the kiosk, and often people are waiting for him when he arrives, and he cannot even get his produce onto the shelves. Their business is flourishing, and I know from previous conversations in June 2020 with co-owners Ryan and Toby that the volume of sales has combined with the scale of their land and labour so that "we've found the sweet spot". Like all growers I talked to, they have optimised their scale and looked for the most basic model that is effective for them. At first, there were challenges with the Kiosk, but the operation is working smoothly now, and over 90% of what they produce on their ½ acre (0.2 hectare) market garden goes to the Kiosk. Like all the SSGs in my research, Ryan and Toby's market garden and lifestyles are focused on "living lightly, reducing emissions, and living simply".

It is most unlikely that the kiosk is the only food source for customers, but it does appear to be a habitual source of food for some. The feasibility of this alternative retailing model suggests there is a viable niche in the food system for providing regeneratively produced food through such marketplaces. The accessible location of this Kiosk plays a large part in the success of this form of retailing.