Bottle Breacher: Here's What Happened After Shark Tank

What happens when a former Navy SEAL strides onto the "Shark Tank" set bearing an object made from genuine bullet casings? The world found out on Season 6, Episode 8 of ABC's wildly popular reality show, featuring financial investors Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner, Kevin O'Leary, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, and Barbara Corcoran.

It was 2014, and the Shark investors had a full slate of hopeful entrepreneurs lined up for a chance of life-changing deals. Eli Crane was only one of the small-business owners appearing that season — but a memorable one by most any standard. His product had emerged from a literally hands-on approach to kitchen tools, specifically bottle openers. His handcrafted openers utilize dummy .50 caliber bullets that have been previously fired, decommissioned, and otherwise bound for a banal after-life existence.

The product bears the name Bottle Breacher, assumably named after military breacher experts who use shotguns for resolving critical incidents. But Crane's admittedly less-critical need now was how to successfully and artfully open a bottle of ale or lager or soda. To his credit, he had found a niche solution for that problem before offering the Sharks a piece of his non-military action. Crane had already been making and selling his Bottle Breacher bottle openers for about two years, and now needed help to expand availability and broaden the reach of all those has-been metal bullets. 

Navy SEALS, even former ones, have a commanding presence, whether intentional or not. It's an important part of their life story, but it's not the only part. As Eli Crane explained to investors when entering the waters of "Shark Tank" with his wife, Jen, his life had taken a more creative turn. After receiving a bottle-opener made out of a spent bullet, gifted by his brother, a Marine helicopter pilot bringing it back from the Philippines, his brain went into overdrive while realizing the potential for post-life bullets. 

Before making it to "Shark Tank," his original goal was to bring in $500 in extra monthly income, but after putting his Bottle Breachers for sale, he pulled in about $22,000 in revenue in the first seven months, working out of his garage. He started hiring other military personnel to help with growing sales, after finishing their shifts each day, and had grown sales to about 150 bottle openers at most per day.

The production team was now ready for things to take off in a big way, so Crane pitched to the Sharks for about an hour and 20 minutes, requesting $150,000 in exchange for 10% of the company. As they cracked open beers provided by Crane, not every Shark on the stage felt the patriotic pull of a potentially profitable product — albeit one with a niche market that Lori Greiner, in particular, couldn't confidently embrace. But Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary teamed up to jointly offer the requested funding with 20% ownership, sealing the deal. 

After taping the "Shark Tank" show, Eli Crane had just under three months before it aired, during which time he made the crucial decision to expect the best. Ordering inventory and hoping for a positive response from viewers, they woke up the morning after the show aired to find orders of 60,000 Bottle Breachers waiting to be fulfilled. The company website crashed almost instantly, but he had a backup site ready, directing buyers to Etsy for placing orders. In a YouTube video, Crane credits his team's military training for meeting the challenge, quoting the Navy SEALS motto of "two is one, and one is none" when it comes to contingency planning. 

With some growing pains but a lot of support, the Cranes and their company expanded from the original Bottle Breacher bottle opener to include variations and customization. By the summer of 2018, four years after "Shark Tank" and support from Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary, the company was nearing $17 million in sales. Clearly, many folks preferred having a Bottle Breacher on hand rather than resorting to solutions like the belt buckle bottle opening hack every time they wanted to enjoy a stout or porter.

Bottle Breacher is still in business and thriving as of 2025. The line includes openers made from .50 caliber, 30 millimeter, and 20 millimeter rounds, offered in various designs, colors, and engravings. Customization options allow for personalized engravings for wedding favors, bachelor parties, holidays, retirement gifts, and more. Customers can also order engraved wooden gift boxes, as well as openers featuring inspirational phrases.

A military theme — sometimes accompanied by controversial interpretations of patriotism — continues to prevail in Bottle Breacher products. Commemorative Bottle Breacher openers pay homage to veterans of the Vietnam War and Pearl Harbor, and families can order specially engraved designs and gift boxes for service men and women. A newer addition to the line includes "frag" openers made from training fragmentation grenades, available in a wide range of colors and designs. The company also sells additional merchandise, including keychains, wooden drink coasters, bottle cozies, and military-themed ice coolers.

Bottle Breacher is no longer a one-man operation and lists nine employees on its website, all either related to or former members of law enforcement or the military. With its expanded operations have come new business opportunities. Bottle Breacher now offers wholesale and commercial orders for businesses, moving beyond the direct-to-consumer model it began with.

Though Bottle Breacher products remain essentially the same — continually evolving with new designs and themes — the company is no longer owned by Eli and Jen Crane. Ownership transferred to Mike and Amber Wall in the spring of 2022, continuing the company's emphasis on family and military values. As for Eli Crane, there's a reason his presence and story no longer feature prominently on the Bottle Breacher website.

At the beginning of 2023, Crane became a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Arizona's 2nd Congressional District. Entering politics can be polarizing for consumers, so it makes sense that Crane is no longer mentioned on Bottle Breacher's website outside of older blog entries. After becoming a vocal Republican supporter, he appears to have fully transitioned into the political realm, having declared his reelection campaign for the 2026 race. It seems Crane has left the business world behind and has settled into his new role as an elected official in Arizona.