Area dairies seeing demand skyrocket during outbreak
During the holiday season, Katie Herrmann, co-owner of the Longmont Dairy, said the milk delivery business sees a spike in demand — but in her five years with the family-owned company, she’s never seen anything like the boom sparked by the new coronavirus.
“We’ve had busy times of year, but this exceeds even Christmas,” Herrmann said.
Two of Longmont’s family-owned dairies — the Longmont Dairy and Royal Crest Dairy — have seen a huge demand increase recently as more people turn to milk delivery operations to supply the things becoming scarce on grocery store shelves and as efforts for social distancing become paramount for keeping the virus from spreading.
Herrmann said the Longmont Dairy first saw a surge in demand about a week ago. In addition to delivering milk, the business also provides coffee and other goods like eggs, cheese and yogurt.
“It seemed like once the grocery store shelves were becoming empty, we started to get a spike in people calling and trying to sign up for service,” she said.
In an effort to continue to provide for already established customers, Herrmann said the dairy had to temporarily stop accepting new customers. As of Friday, she said people interested in service could sign up online, where there is a wait list.
“We will slowly be putting customers back on as we are able over the next couple of months,” Herrmann said. “We just couldn’t keep up with demand. We have
had a lot of loyal customers for many years and we are trying to make sure they get the orders they are accustomed to.”
Established customers have also increased the amount they usually order, Herrmann said. In response, the business is asking for people not to order in excess and ask for only what is needed to feed their families.
Hundreds of new customer requests poured in, Herrmann said.
In the wake of the virus outbreak, a number of businesses shuttered their operations and laid off employees. Colorado unemployment rates soared by 17-fold in 10 days, according to reporting partners at BizWest.
At local dairies, though, the work hasn’t stopped and employees have been feeling the brunt of increased demand.
For Longmont Dairy drivers, it has meant fuller trucks and longer nights of delivery. Others in the company have flexed their role to help out where it’s needed. Sales workers, who have stopped going door-to-door to sign up new customers, have been assisting with deliveries during the day, according to Herrmann.
Jan Rigg, a spokesperson for the Royal Crest Dairy, said the business has long seen a demand for home delivery in general, but particularly during the last week as people have been going into selfquarantine to minimize potentially catching the contagious respiratory virus. Royal Crest Dairy also delivers products other than milk, including orange juice, eggs and bread.
Rigg emphasized the company is continuing to serve its customers without interruption and the dairy is prepared to quickly process new applicants for home delivery. Rigg said she couldn’t put a number on how much demand had spiked recently. On its website, Royal Crest said new customer sign up is no longer taking place over the phone, but is available online.