All-in-one softwarefor coffee carts.

Getting started

• I’m not very technical. Can someone set it up with me?+

  Yes, and it costs nothing. Book a call and Roman sets your first event up with you — menu, colors, the QR, the barista screen — while you watch, on your own account. Most carts are running in under half an hour. You never have to work it out alone, and there is no upsell at the end of it.

• How long does setup take?+

  A couple of minutes once you’ve done it once. The first event is the longest, that’s where you pick templates, add your menu, upload the cart photo. After that it’s mostly clone-and-adjust per booking.

• What do guests use to order?+

  Their own phones. They scan the QR, the microsite loads, they pick a drink. Nothing to download, works in any modern browser. We text them once when the drink is ready.

• What’s adaptive flow?+

  Set a lean (iced or hot) and the guest menu quietly re-ranks so the matching drinks land on top. No banner. No nag. The menu just leans.

• Can I see the operator side of things before signing up?+

  Yes, book a 20-minute walkthrough with Roman. He’ll spin up a sample event, run a few orders through the queue, and show you the recap. No slides.

Compared to what I do today

• How is this different from Square POS?+

  Square is a register, payments and receipts. We’re the event layer above it. Guests order from their phones, the cart isn’t a checkout line, the couple shapes the bar beforehand, and there’s a keepsake after. Most operators keep Square for the rare paid-drink event; the two don’t overlap.

• Why not just use a paper ticket pad?+

  Paper works. We replace it with three things you can’t do on paper: (1) the guest gets an SMS the moment their drink is ready, no name-yelling at the bar; (2) walk-ups + QR orders share one queue with cup-label tracking so nothing falls through; (3) the host gets a magazine-style recap of the event. If those don’t matter for your gigs, paper is genuinely fine.

• How is this different from Toast / Clover?+

  Those are restaurant systems: hardware you lease, a merchant account you open with them, inventory tied to SKUs, and a base fee whether or not you trade that month. Alongside is the software for the cart that shows up at a wedding. Where you do want to take money, it runs through a Square account you already own and lands there, we don’t sell you a reader or sit between you and it.

• Can I use Alongside alongside my existing POS?+

  Yes, and if that POS is Square you can connect it. Put prices on a menu and guests pay as they order; the charge lands in your own Square with the drinks itemised in your reporting, so your books stay in one place. Leave it unconnected and nothing changes, your Square sales stay your Square sales and your event clients stay in your Alongside client list.

• What’s in Alongside that bare-bones QR-ordering tools don’t have?+

  Three things the QR-only tools don’t ship. First, the host’s bar, a customizable page with their palette, monogram, welcome note, and signature drinks they name themselves. Second, the keepsake, a magazine-style recap they share the next morning, with a cover they choose, the guest notes they star leading the page, and a share pack of Instagram-ready cards in story, post, and square sizes. Third, the operator-side rig that makes the day-of calm, per-drink ready station, walk-up POS with TCPA-safe consent, drink-cap policies, priority code for VIPs, cross-iPad sync, vendor-staff link, client roster, analytics, print-ready signage, and a native iOS cart app. Plus the quiet safeguards that keep the day calm, spam protection, safe test events, a guardrail on every text. Price: first event free, $40 per event after, or $79/month. No per-cup fees. No contract.

• Does Alongside work for events that aren’t weddings?+

  Yes. Corporate gatherings and private parties each have their own event type, and the whole surface adapts, a guest-of-honor or company name instead of a couple, an occasion picker, tailored language on every guest screen, themed palettes, and a scheduled toast prompt that nudges guests to leave a note partway through the night. Corporate and private event types come with Studio.

• Are there any per-event SMS limits?+

  100 sends on the free first event, 1000 on paid events. That covers ~500 orders. If you have a bigger event coming, email us and we’ll raise it.

Features

• Do you take a cut of my drink sales?+

  No, never. Alongside doesn’t touch payment for drinks, operators charge guests their own way (free for the couple, drink tickets, tabbed bar). We just run the ordering and the keepsake. The $40 is the platform, not a per-cup share.

• Do I need a printer?+

  No. Barista mode shows the queue on the iPad and the barista writes the order number on each cup with a Sharpie, fast, foolproof, no extra hardware. If you want printed labels, the support hub has the five-minute setup guide and the exact label printer we run, every order prints itself from there.

• Can the host actually customize their page?+

  Yes, colors, typography, monogram, background effects, the welcome note, and the drinks themselves. The couple names their own signature drinks (we offer a quick questionnaire if they want help shaping them). They get an edit link before the event and can tweak anything without you in the loop. The page they shape is the page their guests scan into.

• What does the AI barista actually do?+

  A guest taps “Ask the barista” on the menu and chats in plain language, “something sweet and iced, not too strong?”, and it recommends from your live menu and drops the drink straight into their cart, built the way they asked (iced, oat, caramel). It knows your real options per drink, honest caffeine numbers, allergens the operator flagged, the live wait, what’s been popular tonight, and, if your espresso machine is connected, whether the bar is warming up or pouring. It only ever suggests real menu drinks, and always points guests to confirm allergens at the cart. It can even answer “can I book this cart for my own party?” with your booking link.

• Can it connect to my espresso machine?+

  If you run a compatible La Marzocco Home machine, you can link it, optional, opt-in, and currently Beta. The barista screen then watches your shot times and flags grind drift (“running ~4s slow, check the grind”), and the couple’s keepsake recap can show real, machine-verified numbers: shots pulled, the busiest fifteen minutes, and a shot-consistency score. It’s an unofficial integration with La Marzocco Home, they don’t publish an API, so it’s best-effort and can change if their app does. We never store your password, change it and the machine disconnects instantly.

• Is the SMS to guests TCPA-compliant?+

  Yes. A guest checks an explicit opt-in on the order form before any text fires, and every message identifies the sender, names the reason, and carries STOP / HELP. Most guests get two — an order confirmation and a ready alert. If they enter the giveaway and win, you can send them their prize as well; you read that one first and send it by hand. A guest who replies STOP hears from you again never.

• How do I get guests to actually leave reviews?+

  Turn on the giveaway. While a guest waits for their drink, their order screen shows what’s on offer — a gift card you bought, presented as a real card they can tilt in their hand — and the three small things that enter them: a number, a note for the couple, and a review. At the end of the night you draw from everyone who did all three, and the winner opens their card on their own phone. Any brand, any amount — you type in the card you bought. The notes and photos reach the couple’s keepsake either way.

• Where does my data live? What about my guests’ data?+

  Your data is yours alone — no other operator can read your client list, your menu, or your guest contacts. Guest phone numbers are deleted about a week after the event. We never sell, mine, or share them. Full details in our privacy policy.

• What if I get slammed mid-event?+

  Two safety nets. Auto-throttle pauses new orders for a couple minutes when the queue hits a depth you set. Manual pause is a one-tap button. Orders sitting more than 15 / 30 minutes glow louder on the queue so nothing slips.

• What if I’m working the cart solo vs with a second barista?+

  Toggle Solo mode in the barista header. Solo collapses everything into one screen for a single barista. Pair mode splits across two iPads when you have help.

Studio (analytics + client roster)

• What does the $79/mo Studio plan add?+

  Four events a month included (extra events are $20), plus the analytics and client roster that turn Alongside into the booking system itself. You see booked revenue YTD, what’s outstanding, repeat-client rates, and a pipeline view of every event from inquiry to wrapped, the same numbers you’ve been keeping in a spreadsheet.

• Who is Studio actually for?+

  Operators booking two or more events a month. At that volume the per-event charges match the subscription, and you’re keeping a separate spreadsheet anyway. Studio replaces the spreadsheet and pays for itself from the second event.

• Can I filter the analytics and build my own reports?+

  Yes. Filter every number by date range, event type, or client, and save a filtered view for one-click recall. The report builder groups your events by type, client, month, or single event, or switches to a by-drink report, lets you pick the columns, and exports any of it to CSV for your accountant or a corporate client.

Pricing

• What counts as one event?+

  A single date + venue. A weekend with a Saturday wedding and a Sunday brunch is two events. Your first event is always free; after that it’s $40 each, or Studio includes four a month, then $20 each.

• Are there per-drink fees or hidden costs?+

  None. We don’t see drink prices and we don’t take a cut. The $40 (or your Studio subscription) covers the platform: ordering, barista mode, SMS to guests, the recap microsite, all of it.

• What if the event gets cancelled?+

  You only pay when an event actually runs. Drafted-but-cancelled events cost nothing, and you can keep the work in case the host reschedules.