Fan Milk’s business model was based on turning surplus milk in Denmark into milk powder, shipping it to West Africa, and reconstituting the powder into milk locally. By 2012, Fan Milk offered more than 20 brands of dairy-based (85%) and other (15%) products, operating in six West African markets. A major challenge for Fan Milk was establishing the “cold chain” to ensure that products would be kept frozen or chilled all the way from the centralized factory, through central distribution hubs, to the individual decentralized local distribution shops, and on to the street for sale. Being widely available on the street was how Fan Milk built up its success. From the start, Fan Milk used street vendors to sell its products, first from bicycles, but later also from push carts, head boxes and hip boxes, mostly locally produced. Fan Milk decided to improve the customer experience and brand perception by developing a comfortable combined head and hip box meeting “cold chain” and health requirements for use in all their markets, but with a single uniform design.
