Meet Alex Torrey | Founder & CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Torrey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
The way we get everyday essentials, the boring stuff that we all need like household, personal care and pantry staples, is not sustainable. Consumers prioritize convenience and have turned to online ordering for everything, especially in cities, which generates tons of excess packaging and waste. The pandemic has only accelerated this trend, leading to more packaging waste ending up in landfills, rivers, and oceans. Designed as a local, sustainable alternative to Amazon, The Rounds is a new take on the traditional “milkman” model, delivering and refilling everyday staples in reusable containers with our fleet of e-bikes. We aim to cut packaging waste and shipping miles, helping Atlanta neighborhoods meaningfully reduce their carbon footprint and the city achieve its “zero waste” goals.
ATLiens can also shop local through The Rounds. Local options are more sustainable, we source neighborhood favorites from Atlanta producers as much as possible. Chrome Yellow, for example, is our coffee supplier and we work together to distribute their beans all over the city without any plastic packaging!

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
With The Rounds, consumers no longer need to unpack each item, break down boxes and decide what materials are actually recyclable. The Rounds takes care of all of that, while reducing both the amount of paper and plastic used and shipping distance traveled in the process. It’s the future of sustainable convenience. Not to mention skipping the trip to the grocery store and saving money at the same time. Did someone say Bye Bye Bezos?

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m not a huge planner like that, not great at full itineraries—I prefer to leave room to play things by ear—but if I were to create a loose structure for how some fun days would go it would look like hitting these spots below: Snagging some breakfast tacos at Muchacho – their dinner is a must too. Spending a late night at Northside Tavern for blues music and beers. Taking a trip to the Botanical Gardens followed by a late afternoon in hanging around at Piedmont. Shop for books at the Virginia Highlands bookstore and read them during lunch at Highland Tap.
Got to take them to Ponce City Market to be a part of the atmosphere + food stalls
Walk the beltline at least once—dodging the scooters, tourists and gaggles of groups, of course—it’s a fast and affordable way to get around to a bunch of different places around town.
And I can miss taking them to some of my favorite breweries in Westside like – Bold Monk, Monday Night Brewing + Urban Tree Cidery.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Company building is a team sport. It really takes a village. Shoutout to my co-founder Byungwoo Ko and our entire team! I was working as Entrepreneur in Residence at Techstars Atlanta in Ponce City Market when I first started thinking about how to make sustainability more convenient and inclusive. Shoutout to Dave Payne from Techstars Atlanta! I went to UGA and the first employee at The Rounds is also a Georgia Bulldog. Shoutout to Blaise McComb.

Website: therounds.co

Instagram: @therounds.co

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/therounds