LDC Top 50 2025
Shaun Young and Rebecca Young
Co-Founders
The Estate Dairy
Husband-and-wife team Shaun and Rebecca Young founded The Estate Dairy in 2016, combining his coffee industry experience with her family’s dairy farming roots. “Milk makes up 80 per cent of most drinks in cafés but no-one was focused on its quality or how it was sourced. We wanted to do for milk what Fever-Tree did for tonics,” says Shaun.
Today, The Estate Dairy supplies premium milk, cream, butter and Greek style yoghurt to more than 1,000 customers across coffee, food service and retail, from Sainsbury’s to Claridge’s. Committed to sustainability and paying farmers a premium, it aims to reach £50 million by 2028.
We wanted to do for milk what Fever-Tree did for tonics. We never imagined we’d get this far and we still have hundreds of ideas.”
Q&A
What sparked the idea for The Estate Dairy?
Shaun: I’d spent four years in the coffee industry when Rebecca’s dad, a dairy farmer, suggested we look into sourcing quality milk. At the time, few dairies were adding value. Aged 22, Rebecca and I spent a year visiting farms across the UK with nothing but a brand and a concept: pay farmers a premium, spotlight their practices and serve the specialty coffee market. Most farms were tied into contracts but we found Bickfield Farm in Somerset, home to one of the last Guernsey herds in the UK. We borrowed Rebecca’s mum’s catering van and a friend’s cold store and made all our deliveries ourselves. We’d often work until 5am but we loved it.
How has the business grown?
Rebecca: This year, we’re on track for £25m in revenue and employ 80 people. We now have our own manufacturing site in Cheshire where we produce cultured butter and yoghurt. Retail has been a big step. We launched in Ocado in October 2023 with our yoghurt and butter, followed by M&S in January 2024 with our organic milk: the first one-litre organic milk in a glass bottle on retail shelves. Last November, we entered Sainsbury’s, where we ranked in the top 25 per cent of their NPD based on rate of sale.
How have you adapted as the business scaled?
Shaun: Until recently, it was just me and Rebecca running everything. We had no board or senior team and that became unsustainable, especially after having our first child. Over the past two years, we’ve brought in a chair, non-exec, bolstered finance and hired our first commercial director. It almost feels like we’ve started again but with real structure and a clear roadmap for growth. We never imagined we’d get this far and we still have hundreds of ideas. We will not sit still.
