Community Highlights: Meet Kevin Milligan of Milligan’s Maple Products LLC

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Milligan.

Hi Kevin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Milligan’s Maple Syrup is a family owned and operated company founded in 2014 by Kevin and Mike Milligan at the bequest of Jana Milligan (Mom’s know best). Milligan’s Maple Syrup is carefully crafted from maple sap to pure maple syrup with no other ingredients added. Milligan’s Maple Syrup is produced in small batches to provide optimal taste for customers. Milligan’s Maple Athens is one of the largest certified family sustainable forests in Ohio, consisting of 2,500 taps. Milligan’s Maple Athens is powered by a significant source of renewable energy as of 2022 with the addition of solar panels. At Milligan’s Maple Athens, we honor tradition and our environment by fueling our wood-fired evaporator exclusively with wood from naturally fallen trees at our farm—never oil or gas like conventional producers.

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In 2024, Milligan’s Maple acquired additional taps in Middlefield, Ohio and Edgar, Wisconsin. Milligan’s Middlefield has 5,500 taps and Milligan’s Wisconsin boasts over 12,000 taps making our combined tap count nearly 20,000! We made these strategic acquisitions to help mitigate the risks that climate change poses to our harvest, along with helping reduce food miles traveled and strengthening our supply chain. All of the pure maple syrup produced at our various locations utilize a wood-fired evaporator with the utmost commitment to artisan quality and consistency.

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Milligan’s is one of the few maple syrup companies nationwide who offer a bourbon barrel aged pure maple syrup, which blends the unique flavor of pure maple syrup with a rich oaky flavor featuring hints of vanilla and a smooth finish. Milligan’s exclusively sources bourbon barrels from only the finest distilleries in Kentucky.

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Milligan’s Maple Syrup has been featured several times on the Food Network and supplies many top breakfast and brunch restaurants voted on by OpenTable throughout the United States. Milligan’s Maple Syrup has farm-to-table partnerships in 17 different states (Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, Missouri, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah, and California) and counting!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The learning curve has been very steep. We are a first generation maple producer when the majority of producers are second, third, or even fourth generation producers. It took a lot of hard work, trial and error, and leaning on outside help before we fully got the swing of making pure maple syrup. COVID present a lot of challenges as well, we sell mainly to restaurants and food service accounts and our sales suffered greatly. However, we were able to retool and adjust our business model and came out stronger.

We’ve been impressed with Milligan’s Maple Products LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Milligan’s Maple is a family-owned maple syrup company my brother Mike and I started in 2014. Honestly, it was our mom Jana’s idea, and moms know best. What began on our family farm in Athens, Ohio has grown to roughly 30,000 taps on more than 25,000 trees, across our Athens farm and partner farms in Middlefield, Ohio, New York, and Wisconsin.

We make 100% pure maple syrup, nothing added. Our main focus is supplying restaurants and food businesses: breakfast and brunch spots, bakeries, hotels, country clubs, breweries, coffee shops, and food manufacturers. Our syrup is on the menu at some of the top-rated brunch restaurants in the country, and we have farm-to-table partnerships in more than 17 states. Beyond syrup, we make maple-glazed nuts, maple puffs, trail mix, and popcorn, plus corporate gift boxes.

What sets us apart. Most syrup on restaurant tables isn’t maple at all. It’s corn syrup with maple flavoring. We want to show people what real maple syrup is supposed to taste like. We boil in small batches on wood-fired evaporators, and at our Athens farm we fuel the evaporator only with wood from trees that have fallen naturally on our land, never oil or gas. Solar panels power the Athens farm for most of the year. Spreading production across several regions also protects our harvest from the weather swings that are making maple seasons less predictable.

What I’m most proud of. Our Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup. We age pure maple syrup in barrels from Kentucky distilleries, which gives it a rich oak flavor with hints of vanilla and a smooth finish. Few maple companies in the country make one, and chefs and bartenders love what it does in cocktails, glazes, and desserts.

I’m just as proud of our relationships with chefs. We work directly with the restaurants we supply, and many of them have been with us for years. We’ve also been featured on the Food Network and support up-and-coming cooks through our culinary scholarships.

What I want your readers to know. Real maple syrup is worth seeking out. Ask your favorite breakfast spot whether they serve the real thing. If you run a restaurant, bakery, or café, we’d love to send you a sample. Taste it next to what you’re using now, and you’ll see the difference.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
I’ve learned that no matter how difficult things get, don’t give up and maintain a positive attitude. Staying positive and putting the customers interest first has been our recipe for success.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.milligansmaple.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/milligansmaple
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/milligansmaple
• LinkedIn: https://www.youtube.com/@Milligansmaple