A Note from Our Founder
Welcome to the Klaris Founder’s Series - a collection of stories from our founder, Chase Haider, about the ideas, challenges, and moments that shaped Klaris from the very beginning.
These posts are written in Chase’s own voice and from his perspective, which is why you’ll notice they’re written in the first person. Our hope is to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the curiosity, problem-solving, and journey that turned an idea into the product you know today.
We hope you enjoy getting to know the story behind Klaris - one chapter at a time.
Chapter 2: Finding the Gift - From a Shipping Gaffe to Cocktail Wars
We were deep in the thick of the 2025 holiday season when a logistics hiccup surfaced. A handful of lucky customers reached out to let us know they had received multiple ice makers by mistake.
As we dug into the issue, we discovered a misconfigured setting in our logistics software. It had been quietly hiding for six months before finally rearing its head during the busiest stretch of the year.
One of those customers was Rick, who happens to be an executive producer on several major television shows. He contacted our support team to sort out the mix-up (especially since his wife assumed he had purchased multiple ice makers without telling her). Because the error was ours, we told him to keep the extra unit, use it himself, or gift it to someone.
In his follow-up email, Rick mentioned that there might be an opportunity for us to collaborate in the future, though he couldn’t share any details yet.
Fast-forward to spring 2026, when Rick asked if Klaris would be interested in becoming the craft ice sponsor for a show he was producing called Cocktail Wars. We jumped at the opportunity, supplying the production with four Klaris Mini ice makers and four Klaris Original ice makers to create 2-inch cubes and Collins cubes throughout the show.
Rick also invited me to come to the set and see how the sausage gets made. The filming dates were in flux for a while, but they ultimately landed during the same week as our Williams Sonoma launch - both in stores and online.
The Williams Sonoma launch was a huge moment for Klaris, so the timing wasn’t ideal. But I also knew that getting to experience a television production like this from behind the scenes was likely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I flew to New Jersey for the day to join Rick on set. He walked me through what felt like an endless building of rooms: the main set, alcohol room, prep room, interview room, podcast room, sponsor room, producer room, and more. The entire production gets built in a matter of days, and Rick coordinates all of it. Walking through it felt a little like navigating a haunted house.
While I was there, I participated in a quick-fire interview and recorded a podcast with Megan Murphy. But the coolest part was watching the production unfold live and seeing just how many people it takes to bring a show like this together.
Even more surreal was watching the contestants use Klaris cubes, and seeing Joey Fatone spin one around in his empty glass after finishing his drink.
Just a few years earlier, I had been in my basement experimenting with an idea. Now, that idea was sitting in a glass on a national television set.
It was a good reminder that a mix-up isn’t always the end of the story.
Sometimes, it’s just the opening scene.
