Mill

Mill is a San Bruno, California company that makes an electric kitchen appliance for handling household food waste. Food scraps — including items such as fruit pits and bones — are added to the unit, which runs overnight without user intervention and heats and churns the contents with metal paddles, reducing food volume by roughly 80%. The result is a dry, light, shelf-stable, dirt-like material the company calls Food Grounds, which can be used in a garden, compost pile or lawn, fed to backyard chickens, added to curbside compost, or routed by Mill to small independent farm partners. Charcoal filter cartridges are used to control odor, and the device is WiFi-connected, with a companion app that tracks how much material a household adds and the associated avoided emissions.

The product line comprises Mill Plus and a newer, more streamlined Mill Essential with the same stated capacity and power, sold from $999 with free shipping, a 90-day money-back trial and a two-year warranty. Mill has also introduced Mill Commercial, a version aimed at grocery and food service operators, launched with initial partners. The company was earlier positioned around an all-inclusive membership service that bundled the kitchen bin, prepaid USPS return boxes for shipping Food Grounds back to Mill and replacement charcoal filters, priced at $33 per month on an annual basis; returned Food Grounds were processed into an ingredient for chicken feed supplied to poultry farmers.

Mill has published a life-cycle assessment of the climate impact of a Mill membership, validated with independent parties. It estimates the appliance consumes about one kilowatt-hour of electricity per day — comparable to an energy-efficient dishwasher — and that, net of transport emissions for Food Grounds, users can avoid more than half a ton of CO2 emissions through landfill avoidance.

Founding story

Mill was founded in 2020 by Matt Rogers and Harry Tannenbaum, who previously worked together at Nest. Rogers, Mill's CEO, co-founded Nest and was earlier an engineer on early generations of the iPod and iPhone at Apple; Tannenbaum, Mill's President, was Nest's Head of Business Analytics and eCommerce. Investor MCJ, which first invested in 2020, described the company as drawing on the design and product DNA of a Nest co-founder. Rogers is also a co-founder, with Swati Mylavarapu, of Incite, which backs startup entrepreneurs, nonprofit founders and political leaders, and has served on nonprofit boards including Carbon180 and Activate.

Business model

Mill sells hardware direct to consumers, with the Mill Food Recycler priced from $999 including free shipping, a 90-day return period and a two-year warranty. Its earlier model was a subscription: an all-inclusive membership at $33 per month billed annually that bundled the kitchen bin, prepaid shipping for returning Food Grounds and replacement charcoal filters. On the downstream side, Mill processed returned Food Grounds into an animal-feed ingredient supplied to chicken farmers. A commercial line extends the same appliance concept to grocery and food service operators.

Revenue comes from appliance sales (from $999) and, in the membership configuration, recurring subscription fees of $33 per month on an annual plan covering the device, prepaid Food Grounds shipping and consumable charcoal filters, with a commercial offering aimed at business customers.

Traction

The service launched publicly in January 2023 at $33 per month; as of June 2023 the company described a compost conversion process of 24 hours or less. Reported total funding is $100 million with an undisclosed valuation. Customer accounts cite substantial household trash reduction, and the site states volume reduction of 80% and features testimonials from verified buyers and professional chefs.

Latest developments

Mill has broadened its lineup beyond Mill Plus with Mill Essential, described as having the same capacity and power in a more streamlined design, and has introduced Mill Commercial for grocery and food service customers, launching with initial partners. The consumer recycler is offered from $999 with a $150 promotional discount.