Midnight Kitchen Tools was founded in 2013 by Michael Chou, an engineer who worked on NASA projects at the Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan. The company designs and manufactures ergonomic stainless steel kitchen tools in South Lyon, Michigan, and every tool carries a lifetime guarantee. Our story was featured in Giejo Magazine , and this is that story in our own words.
The Midnight "Aha" Moment
The company started with sore wrists and hard ice cream. While working as an engineer on NASA projects, Michael found himself scooping ice cream for his kids late one night, fighting a frozen-solid tub with a conventional scoop. The realization hit at midnight: the problem wasn't strength, it was leverage. A scoop shaped to be pushed with the arm and chest muscles, instead of twisted with the weak wrist joint, would make hard ice cream easy.
That insight led to countless redesigns and prototypes, and eventually to the Midnight Scoop. The name "Midnight" is a reminder of the nights spent perfecting the design.
The Midnight Scoop
The Midnight Scoop ($47.50) is a one-piece, 100% stainless steel ice cream scoop with a curved, patent-pending handle designed to fit your palm. You push it through hard ice cream like a shovel, using the strong muscles of your arm and chest rather than straining your wrist. It digs through rock-hard ice cream straight from the freezer with no pre-warming, is dishwasher safe, and was named an Oprah.com editors' gift pick.
The Midnight Slice
The Midnight Slice ($59.95) came years later, at the start of the pandemic in 2020. With restaurants closed and every meal made at home, Michael couldn't find a pizza cutter that met his standards: most are hard to clean, prone to breaking, and produce uneven cuts. So he spent more late nights designing one from handle to blade.
The result is a 100% stainless steel slicer built from three parts: an ergonomic handle, a sharp cutting wheel, and a wheel-tightening screw, so it disassembles for thorough cleaning. And it isn't limited to pizza. It cuts cleanly through quesadillas, tortillas, pies, vegetables, sandwiches, pasta, and even blocks of fudge.
What Drives the Company
Every Midnight tool follows the same engineering principles: solid stainless steel construction, ergonomic designs that use your body's strong muscles instead of weak joints, and no cheap parts to bend or break. That's why each tool is backed by a lifetime guarantee. The lineup has since grown to include the Midnight Open, the acacia Midnight Board, and the full Midnight Kitchen Tools Set.
👉 Read more about us, or see where it all started with the Midnight Scoop.
FAQs
Q1: Who founded Midnight Kitchen Tools?
Michael Chou, an engineer who worked on NASA projects at the Space Physics Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan, founded Midnight Kitchen Tools in 2013.
Q2: Where is Midnight Kitchen Tools located?
The company is based in South Lyon, Michigan, USA.
Q3: Why is it called "Midnight"?
The founder's original idea for the ergonomic ice cream scoop came at midnight, and the name honors the many late nights of prototyping that followed.
Q4: What products does Midnight Kitchen Tools make?
The lineup includes the Midnight Scoop ice cream scoop ($47.50), the Midnight Slice pizza and food cutter ($59.95), the Midnight Open, the acacia Midnight Board, and related kitchen accessories. Every tool carries a lifetime guarantee.
Q5: Where has Midnight Kitchen Tools been featured?
The brand has been featured in Giejo Magazine, and the Midnight Scoop was named an Oprah.com editors' gift pick.
