Drinkware company Corkcicle celebrates Orlando ties

ORLANDO, Fla. - The major drinkware company, Corkcicle, was started and is headquartered in Orlando. The Corkcicle creativity begins at the headquarters near Lake Highland.

"The majority of our team is still here in Orlando. And our headquarters. And yeah, we love Orlando," Stephen Bruner, co-founder and chief marketing officer of Corkcicle said. "It started as a side hustle, and it’s just grown behind what our wildest dreams and imagination could have been." 

The company is most known for its insulated drinkware. It got its start more than a decade ago when three friends had an idea. 

"We’re here. It’s hot. We love wine, so we wanted to come up with a way to keep a bottle of wine cold that’s a little bit easier than a traditional ice bucket," Bruner said. 

"We had a really neat idea that was new to market quite frankly. We created a category, which we were not aware we were doing at the time," Eric Miller, president and co-founder of Corkcicle said.

It started as a side hustle that they took to trade shows and sold to retailers there. The wine chiller took off, so the friends eventually quit their day jobs and dove into Corkcicle full-time. Now, twelve years later, the product is sold online and is in 5,000 retail stores around the world. Just last month, the company opened its first brick-and-mortar location at Disney Springs.

The co-founders said the key to their success is constant innovation. The company now makes lunchboxes, canteens, and even coolers, including one with the Orlando-themed name "Eola." The turning point for the company was when it started making water bottles, which are now its most popular item.

"That decision transformed our whole business from where it was to where it is today," Miller said. 

"I’d say design is our core differentiator. From a talent perspective and Central Florida is great. We try to recruit the very best designers, graphic designers, product designers," Bruner.

Corkcicle also partners with big companies like Disney, Starbucks, and Rifle Paper Company, which is also based in Orlando. 

"We found asking as many questions as possible [and got] advice from people who have done it. That was extremely helpful. We avoided so many mistakes," Bruner said.

It worked for the group of Orlando friends, who are doing what they love in the city they love.

"We can’t think of a better place to do that," Bruner said.