Two Dairy Farmers Started a Side Hustle That Now Makes 40000 a Month
Dave Temple and Ed Henderson know dairy. Between them, they have decades of experience milking cows, raising beef cattle, and living the farmer's life. But about eight years ago, they decided to try something new—right in Ed's kitchen.
That experiment became Thunder CoffeeMilk, a lactose-free, Australian-style canned coffee that's now averaging $40,000 to $50,000 in monthly sales. And by the end of the year, they're projecting that number to hit $150,000 a month.
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The Idea Came From a Kitchen and a Childhood Memory
Temple grew up in Queensland, Australia, on a small dairy farm. He remembers the Aussie-style iced coffee he loved—brewed with milk, not water. When he moved to Florida and connected with fellow dairy farmer Henderson, they started talking about recreating that taste.
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"We wanted to create something similar in the U.S.," Temple says.
They started small. Really small. The first batches were made in Henderson's kitchen. They tested recipes, tweaked ingredients, and dreamed of a shelf-stable product that could compete with the sugary, artificial coffee drinks on the market.
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"We believe far too many of the ready-to-drink energy or coffee drinks are simply bad for you," Temple adds. "We knew we could do better."
The First Big Test: A 15-Hour Drive
Taking a kitchen recipe to a commercial product wasn't easy. The pair rented the Food Processing Innovation Center at Michigan State University to bench-test their recipe and figure out how to make it shelf-stable.
That meant a 15-hour drive each way—multiple times.
"It's probably a good thing that we didn't know how much time and effort this venture would take or how little we knew about what we were trying to do," Henderson admits. "It was so simple to start. Our kitchen was our R&D lab. Questions led to more questions, which led to searching for people who could help us."
As dairy farmers, perseverance came naturally. They kept asking, kept testing, and kept driving.
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Early Lessons: Marketing Is Harder Than Milking Cows
Both founders are production people. They know how to produce high-quality milk. But selling? That was a different world.
"We didn't know what we didn't know," Temple says. "We should have asked more questions sooner and pushed harder on marketing issues."
Henderson puts it even more bluntly: "Marketing. It's a feeling. I'm not a feeling kind of guy. It's easy when things are black and white. That makes sense. The problem was (still is) that I didn't know it."
They learned the hard way that relationships matter. They leaned on their milk co-op for contacts and asked friends in the Florida dairy marketing world for advice. Henderson's key takeaway? "There are a lot of people who have knowledge they are willing to share; you just have to ask. Keep asking."
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Setbacks That Taught Them Chemistry and Logistics
Every entrepreneur hits bumps. Thunder CoffeeMilk had some doozies.
The first time they ran their product through the shelf-stable process, it turned into a solid. They spent two days in Michigan reworking the recipe and learning the chemistry behind what went wrong.
Later, they discovered that freezing their product caused the milk proteins to coagulate. A friend stored some in a Wisconsin garage over winter, and when they opened it in the spring, it was clumpy.
Now, winter shipping requires caution, and every box is labeled "do not freeze."
The lesson? Plan for problems. Expect the unexpected. And keep problem-solving.
From Kitchen to Grocery Shelves
It took two to three years to see consistent monthly revenue. But once they cracked the code on store placement and support, sales started climbing.
Today, Thunder CoffeeMilk is sold in stores across the country. The founders have learned to navigate the competitive ready-to-drink coffee market—a space dominated by big brands with deep pockets.
"To get our toe in the door, it has cost a large amount of money to effectively buy space to get our product in stores," Temple says. "This means negative cash flow for what seems like forever."
But the persistence is paying off. They're now averaging $40,000 to $50,000 in monthly sales, and they're projecting $150,000 a month by the end of the year as they expand into new markets.
How Two Farmers Balance Farming and a Side Hustle
Temple and Henderson are still dairy farmers. Thunder CoffeeMilk is one of three businesses Temple owns with his wife. Time is precious.
They dedicate 10% to 20% of their week to the side hustle on average—more during trade shows or busy periods. They have regular Zoom meetings with their marketing and sales teams and talk multiple times a week to stay aligned.
"We divide and conquer," Henderson says. "We each have specific areas, vendors, and suppliers that we are responsible for."
Their advice for other side hustlers?
- Temple: "Plan for bumps in the road. It is never a straight line between point A and point B. You can never know everything about everything, so build relationships with good people."
- Henderson: "It is important to realize that it will not go as planned. But perseverance is key. Someone out there knows the answer you're looking for."
The Joy of Seeing Your Product on the Shelf
After all the kitchen experiments, long drives, and hard-earned lessons, the founders still get a thrill from seeing Thunder CoffeeMilk on store shelves.
"It reinforces to me that our product has a place in today's world," Temple says.
Henderson adds: "Dairy farmers get frustrated with the lack of innovative dairy products in the dairy case. It brings great pleasure to see our product on the shelf and feel we're making a difference."
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