Online sales help Freeville business thrive despite pandemic

Indian Milk and Honey, located at 234 Johnson Rd. in Freeville, was founded in 2012 by Amrit Singh and Ipshita Pall and originally sold lassi, an Indian drinkable yogurt. In 2017, the company expanded to selling portion packs of dairy products, mostly for meal kits like Blue Apron.

Just one year later, the company expanded again, adding ghee — a type of clarified butter that originated in ancient India — to its lineup. Now, Indian Milk and Honey sells locally made products on its website, through Amazon and at local retailers like GreenStar.

Marketing Director Sairam Reddy Potlapadu joined the business in 2018 and, with Singh and Pall, helped to grow the business into what it is today. As he explained, he first started as an intern when he was a sophomore at Ithaca College, a decision mostly sparked by his interest in ghee — something that was a daily staple for him in India. And that interest never wavered, even after he graduated.

“I’ve always seen this as my own business,” he said. “I’ve always been invested in it. I think that’s why I’ve been able to do some good and great things. And I’ve had constant support from both the co-founders here. If I have a good idea, they always push me to take it forward.”

Less than two years after Potlapadu joined, the pandemic hit the county, and Indian Milk and Honey shut down during the initial lockdown period. The break was brief, however, with production resuming just a couple of weeks later under strict safety measures, including having office staff like Potlapadu work from home.

Like many local businesses last year, Indian Milk and Honey saw a dip in sales in March and April. But that was quickly offset, as Potlapadu explained.

“March and April was really bad because we couldn’t ship out any of our lassi to retailers,” he said. “But what happened was, we had great sales on Amazon with ghee. March and April, we just took a boom — we went somewhere else. So, I think that balanced out the rest.”

Between online sales and selling to meal kit providers, the business has managed to avoid the big losses many other businesses are still facing, with revenue from 2020 just 5% below 2019 levels.

Adjusting to pandemic safety requirements also wasn’t an issue, as Indian Milk and Honey only has a few employees.

“We started assigning how many people can be in a room just for the office space, but in the back of the office space, we’ve always had a relatively small team,” Potlapadu said. “Our team only has eight people. So, it’s mostly automated, so we don’t need a lot of manpower. But the people we have are mostly problem-solving with the machines if there’s any trouble, so we didn’t cut down on any employees — we’ve been intact.”

And Indian Milk and Honey avoided many of the supply shortage problems others in the county have seen, thanks in large part to the business’s locally sourced products.

“Most of our products are made using local ingredients,” Potlapadu said. “We work with local farmers, mostly with upstate [New York] farms. … We just buy butter. We buy milk. All of that is from people in Seneca County, Geneva County and all around Tompkins County. So, we’ve not had any problems with supply because it was not coming from somewhere far away.”

And that local focus was a major selling point for the company on Amazon, where it became — and has remained — one of the bestsellers of ghee on the site.

“That’s another feature that helped us in 2020 as well because people are very vocal about supporting local farms, local markets and stuff,” Potlapadu said. “We clearly mentioned on Amazon that [our products are] locally made, we make it in Freeville, and we use local ingredients. So, that really helped us.”

One of the few challenges Potlapadu and others at the business faced was with communication, particularly when office staff worked from home and production staff continued to work on site.

“I’m the marketing guy,” Potlapadu said. “I try to get the business out there. And I work directly with the CEO, the founder of the company. He’s my boss, so we work directly one on one. The communication gets much better when you’re in person, bouncing off ideas of each other. I think it’s much easier than virtual because it’s just all over the place.”

And even that challenge was relatively short lived, with office staff resuming on-site work in late August.

Indian Milk and Honey was recently featured in one of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County’s Open Farm Days on March 3, which Potlapadu saw as a chance to further emphasize the business’s local focus and give the business “authenticity.”

As for what lies ahead, Potlapadu said Indian Milk and Honey is focused on expanding its retail business, like getting its ghee and lassi into retail chains rather than just online and at independent retailers.

As for Potlapadu’s future, he plans to move back to India before the end of the year. As much as he’s happy to go back, Potlapadu said he’ll still miss Indian Milk and Honey and the friends he made along the way.

“What I really love about this company is the passion with what the founders do,” he said. “What makes an employee here have that same passion and investment is looking at them. They work equally with you, which is a great thing to do. So, you’re basically working with them directly and trying to get this business to go up. I think that’s something which motivated me personally. They’re more than just my boss or whatever; they’re my friends.”

To learn more about Indian Milk and Honey, visit its website at indianmilkandhoney.com.