Bacardi Is Putting Money Behind People To Make Sure AI Doesn't Replace Your Bartender

Global training initiative Shake Your Future has pledged to mint 10,000 mixologists by 2030

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / April 25, 2025 / Originally published on adweek.com

While AI hasn't booted human bartenders out of their jobs en masse, for the past several years, Bacardi - whose portfolio includes Grey Goose vodka and tequila brand Patrón-has been investing its money to help ensure that it doesn't.

Bacardi is expanding a global training initiative called Shake Your Future. The program (free of charge for those selected), bestows its graduates with an international bartender certification and has pledged to mint 10,000 mixologists by 2030. In February, it added Glasgow to a long list of European cities where it already operates.

"The techniques of being a great bartender [include] the broader skills around hospitality itself," said Alex Tomlin, SVP and head of marketing for Bacardi North America, "which is essentially about customer interaction."

Just as artificial intelligence has crept into professions like finance, retail, and content creation, it's been heading for the corner pub, too. In 2019, for example, U.K. startup DataSparq debuted its AI Bar, which uses facial-recognition technology to serve patrons in the order they walked in the door. Last year, Diageo introduced a digital platform called What's Your Cocktail?, which uses the company's FlavorPrint AI technology to generate personalized libations. In the back room, meanwhile, AI management app Backbar can crunch customer data to predict demand, control inventory, and order booze.

Like many in the business, Tomlin has watched the growth of AI. He appreciates its power to help cut waste, boost margins, and even concoct some novel drink recipes.

"But none of that changes the importance of why people go to bars," he told ADWEEK, "which is all about human interaction."

In 2022, the liquor giant created Future Proof, a specialized curriculum for students at Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism. The training goes beyond how to pour drinks and into mixology's finer points including cocktail history and spirits distillation.