Rounds Wants to Turn Bartenders Into the Next Generation of Creators

Rounds is giving bartenders the tools to turn trusted recommendations into measurable consumer demand, and participate in the value they create.

CHARLESTON, S.C. — August 31, 2026 — The creator economy is expanding beyond traditional influencers.

Major consumer brands are increasingly recognizing that some of their most credible advocates aren't necessarily people with millions of followers. They're the people interacting with customers and products every day.

For the beverage industry, those people have been there all along: bartenders.

Rounds, the creator commerce platform powered by AlcPay, is introducing new tools designed to empower bartenders to become a new class of beverage creator — giving them a way to share the products they genuinely recommend, build their own influence and connect guests directly with opportunities to purchase those products from licensed retailers.

“Bartenders have always been creators — we just haven't given them the same tools,” said Chris Wirth, Founder and CEO of AlcPay. “They educate consumers, introduce new products, create drinks and tell brand stories every night. We're building Rounds to empower bartenders to give that influence somewhere to go.”

The Beverage Industry's Original Influencers

For decades, beverage brands have invested heavily in winning over bartenders.

There's a reason.

A bartender occupies a unique position in the consumer journey. They're part educator, part tastemaker and part trusted recommendation engine.

A guest may walk into a bar having never heard of a particular tequila, whiskey or gin. Ten minutes later, a bartender can tell its story, put it into the right cocktail and create a new customer for that brand.

Yet when that customer walks out of the bar, the connection often ends.

Rounds is designed to change that.

A bartender can build a personalized collection of the bottles and products they recommend and give guests a way to revisit those recommendations later. Through AlcPay's commerce infrastructure, consumers can then be connected with purchasing options from licensed retailers.

Behind the Bar → Recommendation → Discovery → Retail Purchase → Attribution

Instead of bartender advocacy ending with an interaction at the bar, it can become the beginning of an ongoing consumer relationship.

Giving Bartenders a Bigger Stake in Their Influence

Rounds' vision isn't simply to turn bartenders into another advertising channel for brands.

It's to empower bartenders themselves.

The best bartenders spend years developing knowledge, credibility, relationships and personal taste. Those attributes have real influence over consumer purchasing decisions, yet historically there have been limited ways for bartenders to participate economically in the demand they help create.

The creator economy established a different model.

Digital creators can build audiences, recommend products, earn commissions, work with brands and develop businesses around their personal influence.

Rounds believes beverage professionals should have access to similar opportunities.

Bartenders participating in Rounds can build a destination around what they actually drink and recommend, share it with guests and their broader communities, participate in eligible brand opportunities and earn based on the value they create.

A bartender shouldn't need 100,000 followers to be influential. They may already influence hundreds of purchasing decisions every week.

Where Digital Influence Meets Real-World Influence

Rounds was originally built to help creators connect beverage discovery with commerce.

Now the platform is expanding that definition of “creator.”

Traditional creators can introduce a consumer to a bottle through Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or other digital content.

Bartenders do something remarkably similar in the physical world.

The difference is where the recommendation happens.

A social creator might say, “This is the tequila I've been drinking lately.”

A bartender might place a cocktail in front of someone and say, “You need to try the tequila we use in this.”

Both interactions can create demand.

Rounds is building infrastructure for both.

“The future of influence isn't purely digital,” Wirth said. “Some of the most powerful recommendations still happen face-to-face. We want to give the people making those recommendations the ability to extend their influence beyond that moment.”

Bartenders: Build Your Rounds

Rounds is now inviting bartenders and beverage professionals across the United States to join its growing creator community.

Whether you have 100,000 followers or no social following at all, if people trust you when they ask what they should drink, you're already an influencer.

Rounds wants to give you the tools to do more with that influence.

About Rounds

Rounds is a creator commerce and demand-generation platform powered by AlcPay that connects beverage brands with the people who influence what consumers drink — online and in the real world.

Rounds gives creators, bartenders and other trusted tastemakers tools to share recommendations, participate in brand opportunities and connect consumer discovery with purchasing opportunities through licensed retailers.

About AlcPay

AlcPay provides commerce and demand-generation infrastructure for regulated beverage alcohol, connecting brands, creators, consumers and licensed retailers while providing attribution and performance insights across the consumer journey.