How to Start a Milk ATM Side Hustle Business in Kenya

The coivid19 pandemic taught all of us the need to have an alternative source of income to your employment. Not many people ever thought that their secure jobs would get to a point that they would not be relied on to bring food on the table. However that’s the position many people found themselves in 2020. Probably you are one of them and have you been wondering what side hustle you can venture into and be guaranteed of daily clients? We are here to show you how to start a milk ATM side hustle business in Kenya. The information below will help you do it right.

How to start a milk ATM side hustle business in Kenya- preparations

Research

The success of any business heavily depends on good research about a few things as discussed below:

• Viability

Before you venture into any business you need to do a research on how viable is the business. Ask yourself these questions:

• Is it a realistic business to do in your country, region? E.g. in a village where every home has high yielding milk cows would not be ideal for a milk ATM business.
• Is it allowed in your country or permitted in the location you are targeting?
• Can you afford the capital or can you be able to get financing?
• Will it be profitable?
• Location

The other major thing you need to consider is the location of the business. Ask yourself these questions:

• Are there clients in that location?
• Will your business be easily accessible by clients?
• Is there room for expansion?
• Is the rent in that area affordable and sustainable for your kind of business? It’s important to note some businesses might not be economically viable due to high cost of rent.
• Competition

Before venturing into any business, it’s important to determine if there are other competitors, how many are they and their prices. Avoid venturing into an overcrowded business or location with overcrowded competitors.

Unless you are convinced that despite the many competitors already there, they are not able to meet the demand for the product. In this case we are talking about milk and you need to know that apart from other milk ATMs, there’s packet milk and many households use packet milk.

• Suppliers

The other aspect that you need to take care of before venturing into the milk business is where to get the milk from? Determine the following:

• Who are the existing suppliers?
• What is the quality of their milk?
• What are their terms? Do they have a minimum order quantity? What are the payment terms you need to know? E.g. is it cash on delivery? Do you have to pay before? Or do you pay on a weekly or monthly basis after delivery?
• Do they deliver to you or will you need to go pick the milk for yourself?
• Premises

In the preparation stage, you also need to determine if there are suitable premises for the milk ATM business. Determine the following:

• Is the premises in a hygienic place?
• Is it spacious enough though for a small milk ATM business a big space is not needed? You can even install it in an existing business premises.
• Is the premises secure such that when you are away your equipment will be safe from burglary?
• Does the building/premises have electric power installed?
• Is there clean water in the building or can you access clean water?
• Is the building connected to the sewerage system so that you can responsibly dispose water you use for cleaning your equipment and the premises itself?
• Does the building have a washroom?

How to start a milk ATM side hustle business in Kenya- requirements

1. Licences and permits

As with any legal business, there are legal licences and permits applicable. These may vary from county to county so it’s important to know what is required. The best way to know what is required is to visit the county licencing office and inquire what is needed. In some cases you might be required to have a food handling certificate from the ministry of health in addition to the business permit/licence.

2. Milk ATM

The main equipment for milk ATM business is the ATM itself. However not just any ATM that will do. It needs to be Kenya Dairy Board approved. You can get a KDB approved milk ATM from us. All our ATMs come with a one year warranty. We also install and commission the business for you at no extra cost.

Our ATMs come with their own milk holding tank inside so no need to invest in an extra one. However some clients prefer to keep their milk in the jerrycan so you might need to invest in one.

The other feature of our milk ATMs is the digital control unit. This is a computerised unit that helps you to sell milk equivalent to any amount the client has. You can calibrate the prices accordingly to set the desired price per litre.

It also keeps records of the sales which you can refer to later when making sales reconciliation. Since it is password protected, no one can tamper with the records unless they have the password. You can therefore comfortably employ someone to run the business without your presence.

How to start a milk ATM side hustle business in Kenya- implementation

Now that you have taken care of the above, it’s time to start operating the business. Start by renovating the business premises to be suitable for selling the milk and any other thing you might want to add like snacks, eggs, pastry products like cakes, bread etc. You will need shelves, a counter, locker, jugs with measurements(these are useful when there’s a power outage and the ATM can’t work. Instead of staying without selling, you can revert to measuring with a jug etc).

The other thing you need to do is create awareness of the business. You can print simple black and white posters and place them at strategic places where they can be seen by potential clients.

With time keep improving as you learn more about the business and get feedback from clients.

How to start a milk ATM side hustle business in Kenya- Final word

With careful research, planning and good business practices, you will definitely succeed in the business of selling milk using an ATM. Always make sure your business premises in clean and your milk is fresh.

Kenya Dairy Board requires milk sold from an ATM to be pasteurized. That’s why you need to source milk from a supplier who sells pasteurized milk. If you are planning to sell milk from your own farm or source it directly from the farm then you need to invest in a pasteurizer.

You can start with a small one and as the business grows you see if it’s necessary to invest in a bigger one. Saset makes the best milk pasteurizers in Kenya. If you need one get in touch with us for a quotation.

We hope the above tips on how to start a milk ATM side hustle in Kenya will help you to start one today. For all dairy equipment you might need even if you want to start a dairy processing plant we can make them for you.