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armagh-creamery-price-increaseWe Waited Too Long to Raise Our PriceApril 1, 2026Katie McDowell held Armagh Creamery's milk at $10 a gallon for three years while costs climbed. She went up a dollar, braced for an exodus, and lost only a handful.
Katie McDowell runs Armagh Creamery in Dublin, Texas, an organic dairy and creamery that makes yogurt and cheese and sells raw milk direct to its customers. For three years Armagh held its milk at $10 a gallon while feed and packaging costs kept climbing. Then Katie raised it to $11. We asked her how she made the call, how she told her customers, and what happened next. Here's Katie, in her own words.
My biggest fear was, oh my gosh, we're going to have this mass exodus if I go up a dollar.
We held our price for three years
We're an organic dairy and creamery in Dublin, Texas. We make yogurt and cheese, but about 85% of our sales is raw milk, sold direct to consumers. As far as I know, we're the only certified organic raw milk in Texas.
When we started, we priced it competitively, at what was kind of the going rate at the time. Then we didn't raise our price for three years. We were priced right alongside everybody else that whole time, while all of our costs kept going up: packaging, feed, everything.
We even had competitors charging more than us for conventional milk. I had to look at that long and hard. In the end it was a business decision: the product is really worth more than what we were charging.
Everyone told me to do it. I still felt guilty.
I'm the one who handles our customer communications, so this was probably the most difficult for me. My husband and his father, everyone around us, kept telling me, you need to raise your prices.
But I know some of our customers are budgeting for this and working to make it happen, and it's a stretch for them. I had a lot of guilt around that. I didn't want to make it hard on people.
What got me there was how many people encouraged me. They kept saying the value is there, your customers are loyal, they appreciate what you're doing, and the majority will stick around.
Why we went to $11, not $12
We actually landed on an odd number. We were at $10, and now our milk is $11. That's not as clean and pretty. I love an even number like 10 or 12. But I didn't want to jump up $2. I didn't think that was fair.
We really monitor our overall financials on a monthly basis, so I could see what one dollar would do. Given our existing volume, bumping a dollar significantly helps our bottom line. It's a fair increase, and it really is justifiable given our cost of goods.
Give two weeks' notice and one last order at the old price
We wanted to give people two weeks' warning, so everyone got the message and had at least one more delivery before the increase. We told them that if they wanted to double up on their next delivery, they could still get it at the lower price one more time.
We sent a text and an email. The text gave the gist. The email was more detailed, and it was really about our heart behind it: why we were increasing, the fact that we hadn't in so long, and how grateful we are for our customers and their support. It wasn't a decision we took lightly, but it was something we needed to do for the sustainability of the farm.
This was a decision I agonized over for months, and I think that came through to our customers. It wasn't, I really want to go buy a boat, so I'm going to charge you more for your milk. I really, really looked at this. And I read every message from every customer.
What actually happened
We had really wonderful responses. It was positive overall.
I anticipated a lot more negative backlash. I figured I'd hear from at least 20 people that this was outrageous, and that didn't happen. I had a handful of people leave, and it turns out they were mostly the ones who were skipping a lot of deliveries anyway, or weren't as committed to begin with.
We retained the vast majority of our customers. I really only lost a handful.
The harder ones for me were people like a woman who's retired and told me it's just not in her budget on a fixed income. Those are hard, because I want to make our milk available to everyone.
Some of our members have a private group chat for their drop, and I'm in it too. Someone in the group asked, hey, did the milk price go up? Everyone answered, yeah, they sent out all this communication about it. And they said, oh, okay, I just missed it. It makes me laugh when people miss the memo for over a month.
Overall, I think our customers really appreciate what we're doing, and we try to be really fair. So it's been good. I'm glad we survived it.
Know what your milk is worth
I always tell people, yes, raw milk is a little bit pricey, but you don't want to be milking your own cow in the backyard. That's your alternative, and it's a lot more expensive. Knowing your own worth, and the value of what you're producing, is important.
You go through the Starbucks drive-thru and spend almost $7 on a coffee. $11 for a full gallon of milk that's going to nourish your whole family for a week is completely worth it.
Don't wait as long as I did
I think we waited way too long. We really needed to do it at least a year ago. So don't hesitate as long as I did, especially if you're teetering on profitability or struggling with certain expenses. You have to make money. You have to be able to make a living doing what you're doing.
Of all the levers you can pull, this one is completely fair if you need to do it. Just trust your customers, and know that you're taking care of them.
You won't die. It'll be okay.
What I'd tell another farm
Look at your numbers every month. That's how I knew what one dollar would do at our volume.
Raise it in a step you can stand behind. We went from $10 to $11, not $12. An odd number is fine if it's fair.
Give two weeks' notice. Everyone gets at least one more delivery at the old price, and a chance to double up.
Tell them why. A text with the gist, then an email with the real reasons: rising costs, three years without an increase, and thanks.
Read every reply. Customers could tell this wasn't easy for us.
Expect to lose a handful. Ours were mostly people who skipped a lot of deliveries anyway.
Don't wait a year too long. If you're teetering on profitability, it's time.
— Katie McDowell, Armagh Creamery
Katie McDowell runs Armagh Creamery, a certified organic dairy and creamery in Dublin, Texas, making raw milk, cream-top yogurt and Brie-style cheese for families across North Texas.
Is your price covering your costs?
Katie knew what a dollar would do because she watches her numbers every month. The margin calculator runs the same check for your farm. Put in your costs and your current price, and it shows what you make or lose on every share, and across a year.
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