Got Milk? Yes, and in Glass Bottles

We spent today with the owners of the Rosa Brothers Milk Company at their processing facility in Tulare and on their dairy farm in Hanford. Noel, the younger brother, runs the processing facility where they bottle milk, make ice cream, and sell their various products. It was both fascinating and fun. First of all, we got to wear these really cool outfits:   We also got to taste their offerings. Paul particularly recommends the Root Beer milk and the Cookies & Cream Ice Cream. This is Noel serving up some Strawberry milk:     We then headed over to the 1,000 cow dairy farm where we met Noel’s older brother Rolland. It turns out they have an even older brother who runs an organic dairy farm up in Oregon. The Rosa Brothers farm, which Rolland oversees, has been in the family for three generations. Since Rolland and Noel have seven kids between them, chances are good that it will reach the fourth generation. Scott got to feed this little girl (frankly, she didn’t want anything to do with us but we forced her to in the name of economics and the strategic sciences):     But the high point of the day was our many opportunities to speak with Noel and Rolland about their attempts to carve out a differentiated niche in the commoditized milk business. They have focused on quality – specifically in the form of glass bottles. It tastes better that way and some people are willing to pay a premium. We’ll have a lot more detail on this business in an upcoming video feature where we will discuss how Rosa Brothers is bending the scale-based cost curve of milk processing in their favor and focusing their efforts on building their brand.   Meanwhile, here is our first blog reader quiz. Win a free copy if you  can tell us what this is:     It is HOT here in the Central Valley of California; probably 100 degrees as we ambled around the farm today. Now we are off to another hot spot (in multiple ways) – the greater Victorville area near the… Actually, Victorville is not really near anything. But we are looking forward to our day at an industrial mixing equipment manufacturer tomorrow. The owner has been on Jay Leno’s Garage and seems like a very creative and interesting guy. Should be another fun day.