After Getting a Black Eye in Retirement, He Started a Business to Make His Hobby Safer. Now He’s 66 With Millions in Annual Revenue.

About two years ago, Brad Robins was comfortably retired and competing in an event put on by the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) in Cincinnati, Ohio, when an injury on the court sparked a big idea. 

“[Dave Katz and I] were playing men’s 50-plus doubles,” Robins tells Entrepreneur, “and I got hit in the eye. It started to swell up. I put ice on it. We were driving back to Toronto, and I said, ‘This sport is amazing. Look at all the people and how much fun they’re having just playing the game. But the levels of coordination are so different. The chances to get hit are significant.’”

Before retirement, the Ontario, Canada-based entrepreneur spent four decades building a successful advertising career.

Robins helped introduce Apple and Facebook to Canada and ran his own sports agency, experiences that honed his ability to “zig while everybody else zags” — and got him and Katz thinking about the wide-open opportunity in front of them. 

The pickleball market had no shortage of paddles and balls, but eye protection remained scarce, despite the risks. 

A JAMA Ophthalmology study found an “alarming” rise in pickleball-related eye injuries in the U.S., increasing alongside the sport’s popularity, with more than 1,200 reports in 2024, per the American Medical Association. 

Starting a business to stop eye injuries: Kitchen Blockers

Robins and Katz began brainstorming for their pickleball safety eyewear brand: Kitchen Blockers. (“The kitchen” is an informal name for the non-volley zone on a pickleball court).

“It was a couple of guys in a car with an idea,” Robins says. “And old guys too; that’s the different part. I’m 66. I was not looking for a new startup or anything to really do. It was, ‘Okay, time to retire and spend time with my grandkids.’” 

But Robins couldn’t pass up the chance to try something exciting and different. In his former career, he was always a service provider: He could make creative, strategically sound suggestions to his clients, but at the end of the day, they paid the bill and could veto any of them. 

“This is the first project where I don’t have to answer to anybody,” Robins says. “I can do whatever I want.”

Making lens-less eyewear with military-grade materials

Robins connected with a family friend who was an engineer, originally in sports equipment, then NATO-based helmets and eyewear, to bring the vision for the pickleball safety glasses to life. 

After experimenting with a few different CADs, they decided a lens-less product, preventing glare, fog and distortion, was the way to go. The journey to the finished proprietary product — which included testing various speed velocities, angles and refraction — took about a year. 

“We  went deep to make sure that we created a truly authentic product that provided not only safety, but the level of confidence so you could really focus on the ball itself and have an incredible range of vision,” Robins explains. “No matter what circumstance I’m in, from a deflection to somebody firing a ball at 60-plus miles an hour, I know that my eye is protected.” 

By March 2025, Robins and Katz felt they had a strong, unique product for the market. In addition to its military-grade materials and lens-less design, Kitchen Blockers features neoprene safety pads and patent-pending technology for impact deflection. 

From Facebook ads to fast growth and $3.5 million in revenue

The co-founders began by introducing Kitchen Blockers to players at their pickleball club, then took out Facebook ads in Canada. If the brand gained enough traction, then they’d bring it to the U.S., pickleball’s largest market. 

Neither of them had a sense of how big the brand would become — or how fast it would grow.

A year and a half since Kitchen Blockers’ self-funded launch, the brand is available in more than 50 countries. Last year, the business pulled in $3.5 million in annual revenue and is tracking up 300% year over year. 

Additionally, Kitchen Blockers has enjoyed a sort of “unicorn status,” achieving its impressive growth without making outbound calls, Robins says. The brand boasts partnerships with USA Pickleball, Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) and the PPA.

“ It’s been a wild ride that I can’t explain other than we’re changing the face of pickleball,” Robins says. 

What the next chapter looks like for Kitchen Blockers

By now, plenty of people have offered to invest in Kitchen Blockers, Robins says. He’s given them all the same answer. 

“We’re  not looking for money,” Robins says. “We’re looking for the best distribution networks or operating-based companies that can deliver and provide safety in more doors. Who can truly get this message out and make a difference globally? Because it’s not going to be the 66-year-old guy and his doubles partner.”

Finding the right partner to usher Kitchen Blockers into its next phase is key, Robins says. 

Still, Robins hopes to remain involved creatively as long as it makes sense. The lessons Robins learned over decades in communication and marketing have helped him enjoy this current chapter to the fullest, and he’s having a lot of fun, he says. 

Robins also has some words of wisdom for anyone — whether in retirement, early in their career or somewhere in between — who wants to turn their passion into a business of their own. 

“ Be kind to people, be authentic, be true to yourself,” Robins says. “You never know when your number’s going to be called. Have fun and believe in what you believe in, and where the chips fall, the chips fall.”