Husband and wife team Alicia Long and Dane Turk invented the Nutr Milk machine to solve a problem. One was Alicia is lactose intolerant. The other is they believe the dairy industry is ruining the planet. Dairy cattle are responsible for over 83 metric tons of CO2 annually. Like a lot of people, Alicia and Dane turned to nut milk to help combat this problem in their own small way.
Alicia caught the entrepreneurial bug while on maternity leave from Google and took a course on starting a business. She didn’t want to invent just a product, she wanted to create a solution. She envisioned a machine that would allow people to make their own nut milk at home – at a fraction of the costs of store bought nut milk. Home made nut milk doesn’t have any of the preservatives or other additives and it eliminates the need for packaging and shipping. The problem is it’s messy to do at home, until now.
Dane, who is an engineer by profession, designed the Nutr Milk Machine and they brought their product to market. It’s a cleaner, easier way to make nut milk at home. All you do is pour 1.5 cups of water, a little sugar and salt and 2-4 table spoons of your desired nuts and Nutr does the rest. The larger Nutr 2.0 lets you make even more milk. The machine pulverizes the nuts while heating the water. It will produce nut milk in about 20 minutes at room temperature, warm or hot. They’ve done successful crowdfunding for seed money and reportedly have over $2.7 million in sales since starting out in early 2021. They probably want a Shark to scale quickly.
My Take on The Nutr Milk Machine
I drink a fair amount of nut milk. I like cashew milk the best but I drink a lot of almond milk too. I like the idea of making it cheaper than store bought because I’m kind of a cheapskate (in a good way). At $169, it’s not too expensive. I’d see it as having another specialty appliance in the house – like an air fryer.
I also like the sustainability angle. We’re doing our best to lead a sustainable lifestyle in our family – shopping local, eating clean etc. As a bit of an environmentalist myself, I identify with Nutr‘s mission. I’m in.
Do Sharks Drink Nut Milk?
When I first saw this business, I recalled a business that appeared in the Tank in season 12. If you remember NUMILK, they had a machine they wanted to put in grocery stores to make nut milk. They are also developing a home version that they claim will be ready by Q4 2023. It looks like Nutr beat them to the punch.
I think this product could start a Shark fight, but I think Mark will make an offer. Kevin could too as he made an offer for NUMILK. Lori didn’t make an offer for NUMILK. Daymond and Daniel were not present for that pitch. Mark did an on air deal with NUMILK. He offered $1 million for 7% equity and an optional loan for $1 million at 3% interest for another 3% equity. The deal never closed, probably due to a deal with Whole Foods falling apart and the fact they were far out on the home version. Mark likes his nut milk, so I expect an offer.
Entrepreneur, auteur, raconteur. Rob Merlino is a blogger and writer who enjoys the Shark Tank TV show and Hot Dogs. A father of five who freelances in a variety of publications, Rob has a stable of websites including Shark Tank Blog, Hot Dog Stories, Rob Merlino.com and more.
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