Well-suited to green dry cleaning - Mulberrys Garment Care

Dissatisfied with dry cleaning service he received on suits he wore as a McKinsey consultant Dan Miller left consulting behind in 2009 to open Mulberry Garment Care, one of few certified “green” dry cleaners in the state. His process uses pressurized, liquid C02 instead of chemicals to dry clean clothes. While striving to provide a Starbucks-like experience to customers, Miller’s real focus is on maintaining FedEx-like efficiency at his dry cleaning plant to cut down expenses and keep prices competitive with traditional dry cleaners.

Dan Miller is starting to clean up in a slow-growth industry. Miller, 32, a former management consultant, expects to more than double sales this year at Mulberrys Garment Care, the toxin-free dry cleaning business he launched in 2009.

“Our revenue ‘run rate’ will be at $2.5 million to $3 million by the end of the year,” Miller said. “Our main goal is to become a leader in the dry-cleaning industry.”

He added that the company plans to expand to the Chicago area next year “to make sure this not a Minnesota-only phenomenon.”

Miller, who has nearly doubled employment over the last year to 50 people at five Twin Cities stores and an automated plant in Roseville, uses a next-generation “green cleaning” approach of pressurized carbon dioxide, a recycled industrial byproduct that is converted to a liquid solvent, instead of the standard industry chemicals.

“It’s great to be environmentally friendly, and people like that,” Miller said. “But they also want value. We’re in line with brand-name cleaners, but not bargain-basement.”

Miller, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant, said he will need outside equity investors to finance growth in 2012. Miller and his father, Bill, a semiretired technology company executive, capitalized Mulberrys in 2009 and launched with the help of a bank loan.

Mulberrys’ business model is heavy on ancillary services such as wooden hangers, recyclable opaque plastic bag, in-store Starbucks coffee and several new wrinkles designed to increase efficiency and lower cost from dropoff through the cleaning process.

“The workload is higher than being a consultant,” Miller said. “When you’re a consultant, it’s kind of like poker with matchsticks. You’re advising somebody else who is taking the risk. When it’s your business, your financial well-being is on the line.”