How to break into the drinkware market dominated by big brands like Stanley and Yeti. We’ve previously talked about scented water bottles or straw-and-spout tumblers.
Today, let’s look at a universal can cooler that fits any can or bottle, hitting nearly $70M in a year.
Before we dive in:
- Product: Universal can cooler
- Average price: $28 – $40 per unit
- Founders: Former athletes Brock & Mitch
- Manufacturing: Developed with a Chinese OEM partner
- Revenue: $900K in 7 months → $70M (2025)
Hard Seltzer Trend Sparked the Million-Dollar Idea
The idea for Frost Buddy started with a a hard seltzer trend. On campus, Brock noticed everyone was bringing White Claw to social gatherings. It comes in a slim can. At its peak, the brand was selling over 150 million cases a year.
But this created a subtle, overlooked problem. Most can coolers on the market were designed for traditional 12oz beer cans or glass bottles. The new slim cans didn’t fit properly. That’s when Brock and Mitch decided to start a slim can cooler business.
From Idea to First Product (and Early Failure)
Source from Alibaba: 500 units, zero sales
With no ecommerce or other busines background, Brock and Mitch started where many first-time startup: Alibaba. They found a supplier and ordered their first batch, around 500 slim can coolers. Then quickly built a simple Shopify store and tried running Facebook and Google ads.
Sales didn’t come in, and ad spend quickly burned through their budget. To clear inventory, they two local liquor stores and convinced them to take most of the remaining stock.
Competition forced product iteration
Shortly after their early attempts, the market reacted fast. Within months, similar slim-can cooler products began appearing on Amazon. That forced them to rethink differentiation.
What if one product could fit every drink format? Beer cans. Slim cans. Energy drinks. Bottles. They went directly to a Chinese OEM manufacturer with experience in different-sized coolers.
They developed a new structure:
- Base design to stabilize different can sizes
- Adapter ring to lock slim cans in place
It fits all mainstream sizes: 12oz cans, slim cans, 12oz bottles, 16oz cans, 16oz bottles. The first batch of 3,000 units sold out in 3 weeks. They continued iterating the product, improving car cup holder compatibility and filing patents across multiple markets.
Product Expansion: Building a Drinkware System
Conquering every drinking scenario
Interestingly, Frost Buddy started by cutting down cooler SKUs with a universal design. But once that base product took off, they scaled into more comprehensive drinking scenarios.
Look at the targeted SKUs:
- Universal Buddy: The core bestseller. Fits 12oz & 16oz cans, glass bottles, slim cans.
- Universal XL: Larger version for typically 16oz to 24oz drinks like beer and energy drinks.
- To-Go Buddy: TikTok Shop bestseller. For coffee-shop cold drinks.
- Thicc Buddy: The Stanley-style oversized straw cup.
- Bottle Buddy: For glass-bottle beer and soda.
- Chubby Buddy: A shorter, rounder shape tailored for craft beer
Competing beyond the core product
As competition in drinkware became more crowded, brands like Stanley and Yeti built iconic silhouettes, then expanded to more customer spending.
Frost Buddy is following up, but with high-margin accessories:
- “Crocs” for drinkware: Custom silicone skins with holes for DIY patches
- Lids: converting coolers into tumblers
- Blender caps: protein shakes for gym use.
- Utility add-ons: handles, electric blending heads, and keychain
Accessories help increase average order value (AOV), drive repeat purchases, encourage repeat purchases, and extend into entirely drinking use cases.
Supply Chain Advantages Behind Rapid Expansion
Experienced supplier shorten development cycle
Cooler production is similar to insulated tumblers. Both rely on double-wall vacuum insulation, stainless steel construction, and mature drinkware manufacturing processes.
Frost Buddy’s supplier is a Chinese OEM with 40+ related patents on drinkware products. This makes it easier for them to develop new products based on the supplier’s experienced cooler molds, shortening development cycles.
Using print-on-demand to test demand
While Frost Buddy currently sells only 6 shapes, each one can be offered in 44+ different designs. On top of that, the company drops a new limited-edition design almost every week through its “Buddy of the Week” program. Licensed collaborations further add to the SKU complexity.
Managing that many SKUs would normally create significant inventory risk. So they handled it through print-on-demand (POD) — customizing patterns on blank coolers.
Common surface treatment processes for blank tumbler or cooler patterns include:
- Laser engraving
- UV printing
POD contributes about 30–35% of sales. This lets them test new designs at low cost, keeping the supply chain flexible.
TikTok Growth Engine: From Campus Culture to Social Commerce
Frost Buddy initially targeted an underserved market: college social drinking — tailgate parties, campus events, and group gatherings. This led them to identify an opportunity in college licensing, turning drinkware into part of school identity and event culture.
Building on product innovation and supply chain efficiency, and similar to apparel brands like Comfrt, they leaned heavily into TikTok marketing to drive massive growth. They focused on UGC, affiliate creators, and high-frequency content posting, continuously inserting the product into relevant drinking scenarios.
At peak scale, Frost Buddy generated over 100M+ impressions with minimal paid spend, while also building strong community engagement across TikTok and Facebook Groups. Its breakout To-Go product line, designed for everyday takeaway coffee and fast-food drink cups, generated over $7M+ GMV, with a 4.7/5.0 average rating and 16.4K+ user reviews.
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