Five years in, and one pandemic later, we are making a couple changes at the Milk Maid! Over the past two months, we have had to adapt to survive. We are going back to our roots: cheese, cured meat, pantry items, gift baskets and catered cheese platters. Online ordering has been such a hit, that we will continue to offer online orders for next day pick up.

We are restructuring the layout of the store to now be a more streamlined retail space. We will no longer offer table service, baking, sandwiches or coffee. The beautiful banquet tables will be put to use displaying products in the front instead of seating.

We know Owen Sound loves a good scone, and although we will no longer offer them in house, the Milk Maid scone recipe is available in the Come to Our Table cookbook. We are excited to see what people come up with at home! Luckily our beautiful downtown has many other businesses that do coffee and baked goods so well, including Birgit’s Pastry Cafe, Sugar Dust Bakery, Heartwood Home, Frog Ponds Cafe, the Bleeding Carrot, the Bean Cellar and Palette Cafe.

We have constructed a wall between the front retail area and the kitchen. We will no longer offer scone workshops. Unfulfilled workshop tickets will be refunded upon request.

Please be gentle on us for making this difficult decision. Being a small business owner can be very rewarding, however it also comes with many challenges. We have thought long and hard about what is most sustainable for us, and we did not make this decision lightly. It has been months of examining our priorities and observing what our downtown needs that led us to this solution.

We will reopen in June once the restructuring is complete and we have adequate PPE for our staff. We will ask for no more than 3 customers in the store at a time, and that you wear a mask if possible. Consider ordering online to reduce overcrowding.

I am so excited to continue deepening Owen Sound’s relationship with cheese and gourmet food. In these last two months, I have felt so supported by all of you, and this has given me the strength to clearly see the future of the Milk Maid. Thank you for your unwavering support.