Some might assume the milk round is a dying trade – but not Sutton Coldfield businessman Phil Mitchell. Anna Blackaby finds out why he believes there is plenty of life in the doorstep delivery yet

Phil Mitchell admits that getting up at 11.20pm every night, seven days a week, is a “hard slog”, but having been in the milk business for 30 years, he is used to it.

Mr Mitchell favours a “double sleep” method – a short sleep in the morning and another in the evening – to keep his energy up for the next night’s deliveries.

It seems his hard work is paying off.

Since launching in May last year, his firm Sutton Coldfield Dairies has signed up 500 customers, and is on track to hit 1,000 by the end of the summer.

That is in the face of a declining UK milk delivery business hammered by competition from supermarkets and changing consumer habits.

According to figures from DairyCo, door sales only accounted for 4.7 per cent of milk sold in February, down by 13.6 per cent compared with 2010.

But those numbers did not deter Mr Mitchell when he launched Sutton Coldfield Dairies.

With bigger dairy firms reducing their services, Mr Mitchell spotted an opportunity to grab market share.

“There is a gap in the market – provided the service level is there,” he said. “I’ve been in the milk business for 30 years. I was a franchisee with most of the big dairies but the service levels seemed to drop every year.

“Most of the rounds dropped down to three days a week, which is why I think a lot of people were actually cancelling their milk over the last few years.

“I decided to set up on my own and take it back to the old days where milkmen were delivering seven days a week.

“We’ve got a lot of customers back that cancelled their milk years ago and there is a percentage that have switched over from other suppliers.”