The Bulk Bin Gets a Reboot — Purcell Live at New Tech, Sept 9

Written By Doug Erickson

Purcell is redesigning the bulk food aisle with a sanitary, low-waste dispenser built to replace leaky gravity bins and single-use packaging, and the Santa Cruz Works accelerator graduate will present the M1 live at SCWorks New Tech on September 9.

The bulk food aisle hasn't changed much in fifty years; the same leaky gravity bins, the same scoop-and-spill mess, the same hours of labor lost to cleaning and refilling. Meanwhile, food packaging remains one of the largest contributors to household waste in America. Purcell exists to fix both problems with one better-designed dispenser.

Catch Purcell at New Tech on September 9

Founder David Conway will be presenting Purcell live at Santa Cruz Works' New Tech Meetup on September 9, giving the local startup community a firsthand look at the M1 Dispenser and where the company is headed next. It's a chance to see the hardware in action and hear directly from the team building it.

Who We Are

Purcell is a hardware company based in Santa Cruz, California, built to bring low-waste shopping from a niche experience into the mainstream. Founder David Conway started the company after seeing the scale of ocean plastic pollution firsthand during his time in the Coast Guard, and set out to build a dispenser sanitary and durable enough to actually replace individually wrapped snacks and groceries at scale. Nearly a decade later, David leads the company alongside co-founder Russell Conway and Head of Operations Travis Coleman, designing, engineering, and manufacturing out of Purcell's Santa Cruz headquarters and design studio. Purcell is a graduate of the Santa Cruz Works accelerator program, which has supported the company's growth from early development through its current scale.

Why It Works

  • Up to 50% less labor spent on cleaning, filling, and facing product

  • 60% lower total cost of ownership than legacy bulk bin systems

  • Up to 100% higher sales by replacing unpopular, unhygienic scoop bins

  • 3x the usable brand space of a traditional bin

Proven at Scale

Purcell has manufactured thousands of dispensers that can be found at corporate campuses and grocery stores across the country. Purcell holds multiple USPTO-granted patents, as well as international patents.

The Mission

Food packaging is one of the biggest, and most avoidable, sources of household waste. Purcell's bet is simple: if bulk dispensing is easier to run than the packaged alternative, retailers will choose it, and shoppers will follow. Every dispenser we ship is one more step toward making low-waste shopping the default, not the exception.

The M1 Dispenser

Purcell’s flagship product, the M1, was built from the ground up to solve the problems that have plagued bulk bins for decades:

  • No-jam drop-floor valve — a wide opening that reliably dispenses everything from rice and trail mix to chips and cookies, without the clumping and jamming of gate-style valves.

  • Clean in minutes, not tens of minutes — fully dishwasher-safe and built for quick disassembly, replacing what used to be a 15–20 minute hand-scrub per bin.

  • Modular by design — mounts to standard gondola shelving, countertops, or freestanding carts, and stacks in single or double rows.

  • Flexible supply chain — works with Purcell's plastic-free cartridge system, or top-loads directly from a retailer's existing bulk supply.

  • Built-in flow control — a four-setting flow limiter lets one dispenser handle everything from rice to cookies and chips.

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