As a mixology hobbyist, Adam Craft knew all-too-well the problems that others bartenders were experiencing with standard bar tools, from leaking cocktail shakers to frozen hands.
“That was really the ‘aha moment’ where I thought, how can I reinvent this classic cocktail shaker and make it something interesting that people will fall in love with?” said Craft.
His obsession to elevate the at-home mixology experience quickly grew into a successful omnichannel business with a national following. In 2019, Craft launched his flagship design, the Elevated Craft Hybrid Cocktail Shaker, and raised more than $2.5 million from 29,000 enthusiastic crowdfunding backers to bring the product to life.
Shortly after, Elevate Craft began selling in the Amazon store.
“Amazon opened it up to a whole new audience and people who wanted to get the product fast without having the gatekeepers you might have at some of the big box stores,” Craft said. “It basically doubled our business in the first couple of years.”
The viral success of its flagship product put Elevated Craft on the map and created a thriving startup based in Scottsdale. The Elevated Craft Studio in Arizona is a mashup between a sleek design studio and a funky speakeasy bar, with a 3D printing workshop that pumps out concept designs. It also houses a fully stocked custom bar with mixed-use space for brainstorming sessions, entrepreneur meetups, and video shoots.
“I didn’t want to scale up and just become a warehouse,” Craft said. “I wanted to focus on design. I wanted to focus on building the brand, and I wanted to focus on my family.”
Craft has his sights set on bringing innovative mixology tools to new and different consumer bases in the United States and ultimately globally, with Amazon as a partner.
“We aspire to make innovative products. We’re always prototyping. We’re always building things and we do invest a lot in IP,” he said. “Amazon Brand Registry is just a really nice insurance policy to have as we expand our brand.”
As the company continues to expand, Craft said partnering with Amazon has opened up opportunities for Elevated Craft that he never imagined possible.
“It’s not just a dream. It’s really possible to design something and bring it to market, and build a business around it,” he said.