About us
"My name is Oleg. I am co-founder, COO, and author of That Bartender Project. I am a bartender — with four years behind the bar at a wide variety of venues in Chisinau: from a smoothie cafe to a cocktail bar with a fully signature menu. There, I created over 10 cocktails for the menu, made my own vermouth, and dozens of other experimental drink variations.
At some point, I realized I had something to say. Not just to spread recipes, but to share my way of thinking about cocktails: their mechanics, logic, and history. That is how this project came to be. It started with a book, but evolved into something more.
When I was working behind the bar counter, I didn't have a clear system — neither for creating cocktails nor for work in general. Developing each recipe turned into a guessing game: how much lemon, how much sugar, what about the balance, why does this cocktail work while that one doesn't. I didn't have the answers right away.
The Cocktail Architect web app is my way of fixing this. A tool that systematizes the work behind the bar and makes it clear and predictable. I developed the app myself, and continue to update and pack it with features to make life and daily work of bartenders easier.
In this project, I lead the industry app and consultation expertise, book and guide development, as well as day-to-day operations of the brand, customers and our website."
"My name is Nia. I am co-founder, CEO, and CMO of That Bartender Project. I am a creative and marketing growth strategist, and I have been building brands for almost 10 years: B2B (SaaS, service firms, consulting), DTC (premium jewelry, e-commerce, Food&Beverage) and media sectors. I have worked with corporations like P&G, Nestlé, and ShopLC, as well as wine brands from Moldova and Romania.
I increased Instagram engagement in the US market by 205,850% in six months at Beach Boss Influencers, led creative campaigns at ShopLC US that generated a +271% increase in revenue from new customers via ads and a peak ROAS of 24.06x. In recent years, I led the brand, content execution, and marketing team at Hands-Off CEO.
As a hobby, I am a Level 1 Sommelier — holding the WSET Level 1 in Wines — which is exactly how Oleg and I started talking about what's happening in the glass.
In this project, I lead the scaling & growth strategy, and the entire marketing & creative direction. From design, photography, and layout in both languages to landing page development, branding, performance marketing, and co-writing scripts."
Currently, we are writing guides and developing the app. The first guide and the app are already here. Ahead is a guide to modern techniques and a large book on bar history and culture, which is where it all began.
We plan to speak during several Bar Shows this autumn and connect with brands and industry experts. Simultaneously, we are launching social media channels: about drinks, bar culture, history in personalities, and what happens behind the bar.
In the future, we want to collaborate with alcohol brands and HoReCa, and help venue owners with guest retention strategies and unique bar menus.