100 per cent milk – Eat Drink West

Inglenook dairy reaches major milestone

BOTTLING their one-thousandth batch of milk this month, Inglenook Dairy is reflecting on their first ten years of business.

Owner Rachael Peterken said the Dunnstown dairy producer launched with a desire to pay a fairer price to farmers, and drive the farmgate price up.

“That’s really important to us. Farming is a really hard gig, so there needs to be the reward there,” she said.

Growing up, her dad was a “key player” in the industry, and she got to enjoy raw milk, where cream naturally rose to the top.

But Mrs Peterken said establishing her own dairy was a steep learning curve.

“The whole exercise has been a challenge because when we decided we’d build a milk factory we didn’t know what pasteurisation was, or what homogenisation was.”

Since the Inglenook team initially began bottling, they’ve been “very blessed” to source their milk from a farm in Learmonth.

They’ve attracted loyal local customers, and have “spiked interest” in media outlets who helped them market their business and share their story.

But now stocked in hospitality businesses and grocers from Ballarat to Horsham, Ararat to Stawell, and Kyneton to Castlemaine, the brand’s small staff is expanding and “gaining momentum.”

“We’ve just put someone on in a sales and marketing role,” Mrs Peterken said.

“We don’t get out much to see our customers, who are extremely patient, because we’re always understaffed in the dairy.

“We have good relationships with customers, but it will be nice for them to have a face to put to Inglenook Dairy.”

The brand offers cream-top, homogenised and low-fat milk, pure cream, a natural yoghurt, and unsalted butter, but in the COVID climate of 2020, they lost 80 per cent of their business.

With employees, Mrs Peterken worked hard to ensure they could continue to keep their jobs.

“The Ballarat community is incredible at supporting their own. We put a call out on social media and contacted a few key payers we work with, like Wilson’s Fruit & Vegetables and some supermarkets.

“The local community wrapped us up in their arms and kept us in business. Wilson’s, for example, was our first ever customer and first delivery,” she said.

“Our journey is not just our family’s. It’s everybody that picks up bottle. Without that, we’re not here and we’re grateful for our community’s support.”

In 2021 Inglenook Dairy is exploring further marketing, and relationships with more dairy farms.

“It’s something that needs reward for effort, and they don’t get it, and they won’t ever get it from big companies with the monopoly.

“But, we can have some impact locally,” Mrs Peterken said.

“Our milk tastes so good because we don’t do anything to it. You might pay a little bit more, but it’s 100 per cent milk.”