In Starkville, Mississippi, there is a large market for alcohol. Nearly every restaurant in the town has a liquor license and alcoholic beverages on the menu. On top of this, there seems to be a liquor store around every corner.
One may think that the college town has enough alcohol related business to keep the public satisfied, but the addition of two new businesses begs to differ: Elevate Mixology, owned and operated by Rosa Dalomba, and Booze Cruise, co-owned and operated in Starkville by Jordon Stong.
Elevate Mixology is not the only business in Starkville that Dalomba has created. She is also the owner of The Pop Porium, a gourmet popcorn shop downtown. It is with the knowledge gained from starting The Pop Porium that Dalomba ventured out to start Elevate Mixology.
This new business of hers is a traveling special events staffing agency at venues that have obtained liquor licenses. Dalomba says that after developing one business, she has figured out that owning a business works through a formula and learning that formula makes it easier to step out into new business ventures.
“We specialize in providing high quality staff for events,” Dalomba said. “We mainly specialize in mixology and bartending, but we also provide staffing such as servers, hospitality greeters and really anything that an organization or family is putting together, an event of any kind.”
Dalomba said they primarily work with sporting events and other professional events. They are open to working at private events, as long as the venue already has a liquor license. Dalomba said her staff provides the service, not the alcohol.
Dalomba is looking forward to seeing the potential of her new business unveiled as the business takes off. She has started Elevate Mixology recently and just last week celebrated five years of The Pop Porium.
The established business owner spoke passionately about giving people in her life an opportunity to make money in a convenient way to pay off student loans. In all of her work, Dalomba shares that she is always looking for a way to give back through who she hires and where she invests.
“They are looking for a way to make income, but they already have a nine to five,” Dalomba said. “With Elevate, I will hire people who are already in their professions with high quality job training. They are able to take a few days off of work and make a very nice chunk of change off of bartending for a weekend.”
Similarly, another way for college students to make money with flexible hours in the realm of alcohol is through the app Booze Cruise, an alcohol delivery service in Starkville, Oxford and Hattiesburg.
Jordan Stong, Anthony Depreo and Colton Miller launched this business in 2021, with Stong being the Starkville representative. Stong said he wanted to stay in Starkville because there is a market here for the business, but also because he is fond of the city.
Similar to food delivery apps, Booze Cruise operates via an app and has drivers who will deliver alcohol so that the buyer does not have to leave home to go out to a liquor store. This business has the tagline, “You drink, We drive.”
They deliver from multiple different stores in Starkville and, through this, act as a way for buyers to try out new stores and support local businesses.
Vance Rice, Mississippi State University’s chief of police, shared his thoughts on both of these businesses in an interview with The Reflector.
In reference to Elevate Mixology and mixologist staffing agencies in Starkville, Rice shared that this business is likely to have success due to the desire of clients to have some of the liability of selling liquor fall off of them and onto the staffing agency.
Although he was not aware of Booze Cruise, he shared a couple of pros and cons of the business. With consideration to the fact that there is potential for misuse of the application and business to get these products into the wrong hands, it could also be an effective way to keep people off of the streets while drinking.
“Sometimes people run out and go to the store to get more,” Rice said. “Most of the time, these people have already had more than enough to drink and probably shouldn’t be driving.”
Starkville is a unique city, a relatively small one with a large college campus tied into it. This unlocks many job opportunities such as these two unique businesses housed within Starkville’s business dynamic.

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Courtesy Photo | Elevated Mixology

Rosa Dalomba (center) owns Elevate Mixology, a new bartending business.