What if your entire delivery operation ran while the city slept? In this client story, we’re in London, where Modern Milkman delivers milk, fresh produce and breakfast essentials to thousands of doorsteps overnight – silently and efficiently, on a fleet of Vok electric cargo bikes.
Watch the full interview with Joaquin Albert, Operations Director at Modern Milkman:
Key takeaways:
- Modern Milkman’s riders aim for 20 drops per hour, on night routes averaging 70 km with up to 100 kg of cargo on board.
- The central London operation runs on a fleet of 11 Vok cargo bikes (soon doubling to 22) with more cities to be added across the UK.
- Each bike is out 6 hours a night, six nights a week, hitting targets across three demanding metrics: drops, weight and distance.
- The fleet is fossil-free and almost completely silent, the latter being essential for overnight deliveries in dense residential streets.
- Vok developed two-sided cargo doors specially for their operation – one of several custom solutions born from a genuine partnership, not a simple vendor–client relationship.
About Modern Milkman – bringing back the doorstep delivery, sustainably
Modern Milkman started in 2018 with an old van and a simple idea: bring back doorstep milk delivery, without the plastic waste. Today they deliver milk, fruit juices, baked goods, eggs and other breakfast essentials in reusable glass bottles which are dropped at customers’ doorsteps overnight, just before the crack of dawn.
Their supply chain stays close to home: milk direct from farmers in the Yorkshire Dales, sourdough and pastries from a local north London bakery, British pressed apple juice and organic free-range eggs. They collect as well as deliver: empty bottles, preloved toys and textiles for charity partners, and hard-to-recycle soft plastics that are turned into second-life products such as pallets, crates and picnic tables.
The company operates 14 warehouses across England. In central London, they decided to do things differently – on cargo bikes.
Challenge: overnight delivery in the heart of London
Every night, the Modern Milkman riders move through Westminster, Kensington, Chelsea, Fulham, Wandsworth, Clapham, Vauxhaul, and Brixton. Delivering to central London doorsteps at night brings a specific set of problems:
- Narrow streets, double-parked cars and access restrictions that slow vans down
- Dense residential areas where engine noise at 2 a.m. is not an option
- Flats and buildings that are awkward to serve from a van parked down the street
- Fragile cargo – glass bottles and eggs – that has to arrive intact
- A company-wide commitment to move the fleet away from fossil fuels
« Don’t laugh, but delivering a six-pack of eggs uncracked is quite a challenge – and it’s super important to us. We’ve tried other cargo bikes, but with Vok, we’ve been able to do it well. Good suspension really does matter, »
says Joaquin Albert, Operations Director at Modern Milkman, when asked about the benefits of using Vok.
Solution: a fleet of Vok cargo bikes, built around their operation
The Modern Milkman’s London hub now runs on 11 Vok cargo bikes, with 11 more arriving in the coming months. A team of 11 riders, led by the operation’s very first rider Ismayil, delivers six nights a week, with each bike out for roughly 6 hours a night.
The bikes let them:
- Slip through narrow streets and past double-parked cars with ease
- Deliver street by street at high density – 5 to 20 doorsteps on a single street
- Serve flats directly, park right at the doorstep, something vans never handled
- Work in total silence while the city sleeps
- Keep products safe and secure behind lockable doors
What sets the relationship apart is the product development. When The Modern Milkman needed two-sided entry into the cargo box, Vok built it – making them the first operator in the world with Vok two-sided cargo doors.
« Everything we’ve thrown at the team, the answer has been ‘no problem’. We’ve never been left alone. »
The result: 20 drops an hour, 70 km a night, zero cracked eggs
The numbers behind a typical night shift:
- 20 drops per hour – the target riders work to across dense residential routes
- ~70 km per route on average, covered in around 6 hours – with a fifth of routes stretching to 85 km
- 100 kg of cargo per planned route – and controlled trials at 110–120 kg, with weight managed down quickly at the start of the run
- 2 batteries power most routes; the longest runs carry a third in a compartment Vok built specially for them
- Six nights a week, every week – two years of continuous operation in central London, and a fleet that’s doubling
- Zero emissions to support the company’s sustainability targets
- Zero engine noise which is crucial for overnight deliveries in residential areas
- Zero cracked eggs – simply a must-have
Why Vok?
For Modern Milkman, Vok stands out for three core reasons:
- Reliability – bikes that handle high-turnover nightly use and keep fragile cargo intact
- Partnership – custom modifications developed for their needs, from doors to batteries
- Fit for the city – quiet, compact and fossil-free, made for dense night-time streets
Looking ahead
With 11 more bikes on order, The Modern Milkman is looking beyond London. Other English cities with similar street constraints are next on the list – the same silent, doorstep-first model, delivered before dawn. The Modern Milkman is the perfect example of city logistics built solely on cargo bikes – done well, and reaping the benefits.
Want to be the next success story? Write to us at [email protected] and get your very own Vok!
