Scaling a Beverage Brand? Don’t Overlook Your Container Strategy

There’s a lot that goes into growing a beverage brand. Flavors, distribution, pricing, marketing, margins. All important. But there’s one piece many founders underestimate, especially in the early days. We’re talking about packaging choices. More specifically, the container itself.

You can have the best-tasting drink in the world, but if your packaging doesn’t fit your scale, your positioning, or your supply chain, it can quickly create bottlenecks. Literally and figuratively.

As your brand scales, the wrong container can slow you down, increase costs, or even push retailers and distributors to rethink their interest. On the other hand, a smart container strategy can support growth, improve efficiency, and protect your margins.

Containers Do More Than Hold Liquid

At first glance, your container might seem like a basic functional choice. Bottle or can. Glass or aluminum. 12 oz or 16 oz. Simple, right?

Not quite.

Your container is one of the most visible, handled, and important parts of your brand’s physical identity. It influences:

Shelf appeal – The shape and material affect how it looks in retail, how it photographs, and how customers perceive it.
Shipping efficiency – Weight and shape impact how many units fit on a pallet, which affects your cost per case.
Co-packer access – Not every co-packer runs every type of container. If you’re too niche, you limit your options.
Consumer experience – Easy to open? Easy to recycle? Reclosable? These small things matter in repeat purchase behavior.
Sustainability perceptions – Some consumers strongly prefer certain formats due to environmental beliefs.

This is why smart beverage brands revisit their container strategy every time they hit a new stage of growth.

When Scaling, Small Packaging Issues Become Big

The container that worked when you were producing 5,000 units might not make sense at 500,000. Scale introduces new pressures. Costs stack up, operational headaches multiply, and small inefficiencies start having a real financial impact.

For example, maybe your glass bottles looked premium in the early days. But now you’re dealing with freight damage, higher shipping costs, and rising consumer preferences toward lighter, more recyclable options. Or maybe you chose a unique can size that helped you stand out, until you realize most mobile canners can’t work with it, and now you’re locked into high minimums with a single vendor.

This is where bulk aluminum cans become a strong option. They’re lightweight, affordable at volume, compatible with most canning lines, and align well with many sustainability claims. And when you’re ordering in large quantities, they tend to give you more pricing flexibility.

Matching Containers to Your Stage of Growth

A smart packaging strategy changes as you grow. Here’s how to think about it through different stages:

Start-Up Phase

You’re focused on short runs, testing flavors, and getting feedback. Flexibility matters more than cost. You might work with mobile canners, smaller runs of labels, and prioritize whatever gets your product out there fastest. At this point, you can take a few more risks with packaging. Your audience is likely early adopters who don’t mind a little DIY vibe.

Growth Phase

Now you’re moving into regional chains, signing with distributors, and starting to see demand pick up. At this stage, your packaging has to start pulling more weight. Efficiency, shelf presence, and logistics all become critical. This is often when brands switch container types, for example, from glass to cans, or from shrink sleeves to printed containers, to lower costs and increase speed.

Scale-Up Phase

Here, everything needs to run lean and fast. Your co-packers, your lead times, your shipping, and your retail presence all depend on your container choice. Any misalignment starts to show. If your container isn’t optimized, it will hold back everything else, even if your sales and demand are strong.

Choosing the Right Container Isn’t Just About the Product

Sometimes, founders focus too much on what looks cool or what their competitors are doing. But the right container should serve your business as a whole.

A few things to keep in mind when making decisions:

Retailer expectations – Certain formats are more standard in specific categories. Going too far outside the norm can hurt shelf placement.
Operational availability – What formats can your current or future co-packers handle without expensive line changeovers?
Unit economics – Run the numbers on not just cost per unit, but pallet density, shipping, and waste.
Minimum order quantities – Unique formats often come with higher MOQs, which ties up capital and warehouse space.
Sustainability positioning – If your brand talks a lot about environmental impact, your container better align with that narrative.

Don’t Let Container Decisions Happen by Default

This is a common trap. A founder picks a container in the early days, and then sticks with it simply because it’s what they’ve always done. The longer it goes unexamined, the harder it becomes to change later.

But changing containers is not just possible, it’s often necessary. It doesn’t have to mean a full rebrand. Many successful beverage companies have evolved their packaging as they scaled, keeping their visual identity while switching to a container that better fits their operations.

It’s far easier to make this shift proactively than to wait until a supply chain issue forces your hand.

Questions to Ask Before You Scale Further

Before doubling down on your current format, take time to ask:

Are we using a container that works with multiple co-packers, or are we locked into one?

Can we get better unit economics with a different format?

How does our packaging affect shipping costs and pallet efficiency?

Is our container aligned with how retailers merchandise our category?

Does the packaging reinforce our brand values and positioning?

If demand spikes, can our current packaging supplier keep up?

If you can’t confidently answer these, it might be time to re-evaluate your container strategy.

Build Smart, Grow Faster

It’s easy to treat packaging as a creative decision or a production afterthought. But when you’re scaling a beverage brand, the container is a strategic lever. Get it right, and it will support your margins, expand your co-packing options, and help your brand feel more polished at shelf. Get it wrong, and it can hold you back no matter how strong your product is.

Smart brands build in packaging flexibility from day one, and revisit their container choices with every new stage of growth. Think bigger than the bottle. Your container could be the key to scaling faster and smarter.