When its fast-growing, app-enabled plastic-free milk and produce delivery service required a provider to fund and source its fleet, The Modern Milkman turned to Holman.

Reliant on technology and flexibility for its ultra-modern reinvention of a traditional service, The Modern Milkman was keen to move to a sustainable fleet as soon as possible. It has opted for Holman’s Sale and Leaseback product to fund its vehicles because it allows flexibility as the business grows and its offering develops.

Inspired by David Attenborough’s Blue Planet, The Modern Milkman was founded with a mission to reduce plastic waste. As a purpose-driven business, it is committed to positively impacting the environment and the communities it serves. The service goes beyond dairy rounds and delivers an extensive range of groceries in return and reuse, all plastic-free.

The rapid growth allowed the company to achieve a 1400% increase in revenue in 2020 alone as its delivery service spread across the North and Midlands. By the end of 2022, the company aims to cover the whole of the UK. Holman has already sourced and funded 55 vans, manages the conversion process, and looks after all in-life services too.

Unlike traditional milk rounds, The Modern Milkman doesn’t have set delivery routes as its users can order locally sourced milk and produce on the app as late as 8pm the night before for delivery first thing the next day. Combined with the many new customers it is gaining, its fleet’s usage and mileage profile are both unpredictable and constantly evolving.

Holman’s Sale and Leaseback product has no mileage restrictions, has transparency on all in-life costs and gives customers the ability to de-fleet when they choose. This ensures customers are not committed to unnecessarily long leasing contracts that are not fit for purpose.

Since the beginning of 2020, The Modern Milkman customer numbers have increased eight-fold and helped keep an equivalent of 26,000 wheelie bins’ worth of plastic waste out of landfills. It recently secured funding of £5 million from environmentally focused investment fund ETF Partners too, which means it needed flexible funding to allow it to move to electric vehicles when it suits.

“It is a business that understands and champions sustainability, and so its fleet needed to run as efficiently as possible. That’s where Holman comes in. Through Sale and Leaseback, The Modern Milkman will be able to move to electric as soon as the operational conditions are right. We will help them to make that decision through insight and data from our transparent fleet management system,” added Mackinnon.