An apparatus and method is provided for setting up bottle carrier baskets from a flat folded configuration to an expanded and locked condition. The carrier basket is picked from a magazine storage location by a pick up head with vacuum cups and transferred to a pair of opposed opener heads with vacuum cups. The opener heads move along divergent paths to expand the carrier basket and a linear brake slows the carrier handle to cause the body to move past the handle, positioning a notch in the bottom panel to engage a hook in the central wall. A rotating kicker raises the bottom panel, engaging the hook and the notch as the vacuum is released from the opener vacuum cups.