London-based Milky Plant, creator of what the company describes as “the only true appliance that can make plant-based milk in the UK”, was founded during lockdown by Nadina Grigoras, originally from Moldova, and Michael Kalu, originally from Nigeria, with a budget of just £500.
While other appliances “claim” to make plant-based milk at home, according to Milky Plant, other machines available on the market do not provide the same functionality, operating more like extra fine blenders, not separating the leftover pulp from the milk. With Milky Plant, users can easily create their choice of plant milks, from buckwheat, oat, rice, macadamia, or more adventurous blends like blueberry quinoa, in the luxury of their home.
An impressive list of achievements
In the space of just a few years, the list of achievements at Milky Plant is certainly impressive. In its first two years, the company turned over £2M and is now projecting £10M in sales this financial year; the international team has doubled in size over the last 12 months; 93K followers have been amassed on Instagram; the startup was part of the Amazon Accelerator scheme for 2022/ 23 and awarded the Startup of the year 2023 by Amazon, and has received various other recognitions including a place as finalist in the UK Start Up Awards 2024.
“We knew that we had an innovative product when we came up with the idea and have worked hard to ensure it’s totally different to blenders on the market that also can make plant milk. For example, no other machine collects the pulp which can be used in baking or composting. Plus our machine is self-cleaning, unlike any others,” explain the founders to vegconomist.
The Why
With more than one in three Brits drinking plant-based milk every day (by Mintel’s 2021 figures), and Statista numbers stating that 35% of 25 to 34-year-olds included almond milk in their diets in the UK in 2022, this critically well-received machine offers a solution to the myriad sustainability issues around the consumption of packaged milk, including waste and transport. Over 200 billion Tetra Paks are produced every year and only 26% are being recycled, according to the founders.
“Every appliance stops on average 200 Tetra Paks from going into landfill”
Co-founder Michael Kalu said to vegconomist: “One of the reasons we founded Milky Plant was because after we switched to plant-based milk we were shocked by how many Tetra Pak containers we got through since they can’t easily be recycled. Every appliance stops on average 200 Tetra Paks from going into landfill. Also, depending on the usage it will remove 68kg of carbon from our atmosphere. This is through a variety of ways including reduction in transport, water usage and waste generated.”
Nadina explains, “I was diagnosed with high cholesterol at a very young age so this made me re-evaluate my diet and I decided to go plant-based. I was really shocked at the additives and sugar that were found within shop-bought plant milks and also that the Tetra Pak packaging could not be easily recycled. I tried to make my own plant-based milk by soaking nuts and oats and straining it, but it was a messy and time-consuming process. So Michael and I had the idea to invent an appliance that makes milk at home.”
Organic growth
While Grigoras and Kalu had some previous entrepreneurial background, their prior endeavours hadn’t stuck, and the pair had no experience in product development. “So did not know at the start of our journey that we could make it a huge success. It’s testament to the whole team that we have got this far and we’re all super excited about the next 12 months. If we had sought investor funding at the start then we might have even grown faster! But growing the way we have has meant that we could learn along the way and get things 100% right before we embark on the next phase of substantial growth,” Kalu explains.
Not only does the machine help to solve the sustainability issues around packaging and transport, but for each appliance sold the startup plants five trees and gives 1% back to help the planet. “We also end-of-life recycling scheme where customers can return their Milky Plant and we will reuse and recycle every single part. Helping the environment can feel like a huge challenge but if every single person does something differently with sustainability it makes a huge difference overall. That’s why we’re so committed to having sustainability at the heart of our business,” he enthuses.
After such an incredible start to the young business, what’s next in store for the founders?
“Well, we have a new machine launching later this year! It’s Milky Plant as you know and love but with some changes to the design, including more capacity and more colours hopefully. We are also keen to explore more retail options and needed to get our supply chain, product development, work on our own retail capacities before we ventured into this but we would love to chat to any retailers who are interested in Milky Plant.”
The Milky Plant machine costs £290 and it takes around 180 uses to recoup the costs of the machine, depending on the ingredients chosen used to make the milk.
