One list. Every local store bids on it.
For weddings, corporate parties, holiday parties and large events: build your exact alcohol list once, local liquor stores compete on that same list, and you pick the best total — then see what that bar would have cost through a caterer.
How it works
Four steps, no phone tag, no guessing how much to buy.
Plan your bar
Use the calculator below to build one exact list — bottles, cases, ice and mixers — sized to your guests, hours, and bar style.
Stores bid blind
Local licensed stores get the identical list and bid on it within 48 hours. They can't see each other's prices — or your name — so they bid their real best.
Compare side by side
Anonymised totals — Store A, B, C — with each store's distance and delivery details. Store names are revealed only once you pick a winner.
Delivered & picked up
The winner delivers free before your event and picks up anything sealed and unopened afterwards. You only keep — and pay for — what you actually opened.
Build your exact list
Pick an event type to load sensible defaults — every setting stays adjustable.
Everyone invited, drinkers and non-drinkers alike.
From the first pour to last call.
A daytime or older crowd runs light; a late-night dancing crowd runs heavy.
Quantities stay the same — only the price per drink changes.
Each signature cocktail shifts more of the list into spirits.
Your list — and what you save
One identical list — this is the exact list every store bids on, so quotes are apples-to-apples.
Quantities are rounded up to whole bottles and cases — nobody ever ran out because of a rounding error in their favour. With the buffer on, the headline number is what you buy; the smaller number is the calculated need.
What you save vs. a caterer
| Alcohol at retail | |
| Bartenders | |
| Mixers, ice & garnishes $1.50 per drinking guest | |
| Your estimated total |
Got a real quote? Type it in — per guest or total, either way. The default is a typical package price for the bar type and tier you picked.
| Caterer / venue total |
For context, not a promise: the average venue bar-service spend in Rhode Island is about $3,186 per wedding (2024 Wedding Report data), and retail alcohol for a wedding nationally typically runs $2,800–$3,200.
We don't tack on a made-up "bidding discount." Your estimate above is a planning number — stores then bid on this exact list, and the final saving is locked in by that competition, plus free delivery and free pickup of unopened returns.
Get this exact list quoted
Fill this in and the page sends one complete request — your details plus the list above — to the BidTheBar pilot team, and gives you a copyable summary for your own records.
Your request summary
This is the complete document stores will quote from — your details, the exact list, and the estimated totals. Copy it now:
What happens in the pilot: requests are handled personally, not by an app. The pilot team has this summary now and will coordinate your quotes. When stores bid, you'll get anonymised totals side by side within about 48 hours, and you pay the winning store directly — never the platform.
Run a liquor store? Bid on events like these.
Stores on the platform pay a flat subscription — $149/month at the founding rate — and keep 100% of every sale. No percentage of sales, ever. You set your own prices, you're the seller of record, and you collect payment directly from the customer.
Founding recruitment for the Newport–Providence pilot opens with the pilot plan — contact details for store sign-ups will be added here.
Questions, answered straight
Do stores really deliver free and take back unopened bottles?
Yes — that's a platform standard the winning store agrees to before it can bid. Delivery to your event is free, and after the event the store picks up anything sealed and unopened (undamaged labels, kegs untapped) within 7 days and refunds it in full to your original payment. That's exactly why the calculator's 10% safety buffer is safe to keep on: overbuying costs you nothing.
Who do I pay?
The winning store, directly. The store is the licensed seller of record: it sets its price, takes your payment, delivers, checks 21+ ID, and handles the returns refund. The platform never sells alcohol and never takes payment for it — it organises the quotes.
Can I use this for a corporate or holiday party?
Yes — it's not weddings only. Corporate parties, holiday parties, large birthdays, and fundraisers all work the same way: one list, stores bid, winner delivers and picks up returns. Pick your event type at the top of the calculator and the defaults adjust — corporate events run shorter with a beer-and-wine-heavier mix, and they repeat every year.
What if my venue has its own bar?
Then this isn't for that venue. Venues that run their own licensed bar generally require you to buy through them. This works where outside alcohol is allowed: private homes and estates, BYO-friendly venues and barns, and caterers who let you supply the alcohol. If you're not sure, ask the venue before you request quotes — there's a "Not sure" option on the form.
How much does the service cost me?
Nothing, for customers, during the pilot. Stores pay a flat monthly subscription to be on the platform — that's how the platform earns, instead of taking a percentage of your alcohol bill. Your price is the store's bid, full stop.
The math, in the open
Every number on this page comes from these assumptions, so a store — or a sceptical father of the bride — can audit them:
- Drinks needed: drinking guests × (2 drinks in the first hour + 1 drink per hour after that) × pace multiplier (Light 0.8 / Average 1.0 / Heavy 1.2).
- Splits: Full bar — wine 40% / beer 30% / spirits 30%. Limited bar — wine 45% / beer 35% / spirits 20%. Beer & wine — wine 55% / beer 45%. Corporate parties shift 5 points from spirits to beer; holiday parties shift 5 points from wine to spirits. Each signature cocktail shifts a further 10% of all drinks into spirits, taken from wine and beer.
- Wine: 5 glasses per 750ml bottle, split 50% red / 35% white / 15% rosé. Cases are 12 bottles.
- Beer: 1 drink = one 12oz beer, sold in 24-count cases; suggested mix is 40% lager / 35% light / 25% IPA & craft.
- Spirits: 36 drinks per 1.75L bottle (a 1.5oz pour). Full-bar suggestion: vodka, then bourbon/whiskey, then gin and tequila. Limited bar: vodka and bourbon only.
- Sparkling toast: 7 toast pours per bottle, one per drinking guest.
- Non-alcoholic: roughly 2 soft drinks or waters per non-drinking guest.
- Ice: 1.5 lb per drinking guest. Mixer quantities are estimates scaled to the number of spirit drinks.
- Retail estimate: planning prices of roughly $1.50 per drink (Value), $2.50 (Mid-shelf), $4.00 (Premium), shown as a range of ±20%. It is an estimate until stores bid — your actual quotes replace it.
- Do-it-yourself costs: bartenders at 1 per 50 drinking guests, $40/hour each, for the full event; mixers, ice and garnishes at $1.50 per drinking guest.
- Caterer comparison defaults: $25 per guest for beer & wine, $40 for a limited or full bar at mid-shelf, $55 at premium tier, plus an optional 20% service/gratuity line. If you enter your own quote, yours is used.
- Buffer: the optional 10% buffer is applied before rounding up to whole bottles and cases. Unopened returns are a platform standard: sealed, undamaged bottles picked up within 7 days of the event are refunded in full.