September 2026
The month Alongside opened its doors: sign-up for everyone, real billing, and a long walk through every screen with a live cart.
Order faster from your phone
The wait shows above the first drink so you can decide when to order. Reorder your last drink with one tap, or let the barista pick. Your cart survives a refresh, and hot or iced is the first thing a drink asks.
Your night, on a page
Once the recap is published, your order screen says so and takes you there. The photo card shows the newest five from the party, and a couple can put a four-digit code on a private recap.
Colors from your invitation
Drop the invitation on your page and it proposes a palette from it. A kids menu switch adds steamed milk, hot chocolate and a babyccino. Operators can email you the finished recap.
Last call, batches and a table number
Last call closes phone ordering in ten minutes while the register stays open. Matching drinks in a row can be made and marked ready together. A table number from the tent reaches the sticker, and the ready text says the pickup spot.
Controls in three zones
Before the day, the day, and live now, with one line at the top saying whether guests can order right now. Walk through as a guest without placing anything, save an event as a named template, download the QR, and print a day-of card for a hired barista.
Leads that move, and a client portal
A follow-up date on every lead, a quote filled from the lead with your defaults, a first reply drafted from the house template, contract templates, and one link that shows a client their quote, contract, invoice, page and recap.
Closed until a date
Mark the shop out until a date and the door, the day's link and the barista all say so.
First three screens, and usage on your plan
A new studio walks through naming the cart, making the first event and printing the sign. The plan panel shows texts, barista turns and events this month, and every connection says when it last fired. A receipt arrives for a $40 event.
Try it as a guest
A live demo bar on the site. Order from your phone, ask the barista, watch the line move and get the ready screen, with nothing to sign up for.
A pricing calculator
Guests, hours, texts on or off and events a month, and the pricing section says free, $40 or Studio for your cart.
The line holds itself
Set a number of cups and phone ordering pauses when the line reaches it, then opens again on its own once the bar has caught up. The register keeps selling through a pause.
Iced and hot, right everywhere
The sticker, the queue, the ready station, the recap and the analytics all read a cup's temperature the same way, including a signature drink built over ice. A default sweetness with nothing to sweeten no longer prints.
A note from the cart
Write a few lines for the couple on the recap, signed by a person. It takes the place of the story spread when you would rather say something yourself.
The review card got out of its own way
One strip of chips, a single line for a word, and a save button that stays in reach on a phone.
Your usual comes back with you
The passport remembers a first name and recent drinks at any Alongside bar for as long as you keep ordering, and forgets on request.
Foil, in the tracker picker
The foil skin for the while-you-wait deck is a choice on every event now, not a link-only preview.
Quotes know when they are paid
Mark a quote paid or deposit paid, and the row wears one honest pill: paid and not signed is the one worth chasing. The client's page thanks them and asks for the one step left.
The hub tells you what is missing
The event checklist names the exact step: build the menu, send the client their link, print the sign, pair the printer, decide on texts, open ordering. A card shows what guests see right now.
A wrong cup gets written down
From any ready card or queue card: pick a reason, make it again, reprint the sticker, or just note it. The event's activity feed keeps the list.
The ready card says whether the guest was told
Text sent two minutes ago, text on its way, or no number so call the name. The queue line explains itself on a tap, and every wait deck says what to do once the drink is ready.
A full stamp card pays for a drink
At a shop, a full card offers a free drink at checkout, comes off the total, and the ticket says which cup was on the house.
A shop's menu is one menu
Add, edit or remove a drink and every open day takes the change. The next opening can be set up ahead of time, the hours close the day's link too, and table tents print the shop's permanent door.
Post an event and read the notes
A shop can post a moment with a photo and a question. Guests answer from the wait screen, and the notes go to the shop and nowhere else.
The AI barista knows it is behind a counter
At a shop it speaks for the counter, knows the hours and the stamp card, and never adds a verse of its own.
Automatic emails have a switch
The morning-after debrief and the anniversary note can be switched off per event, or sent again. The anniversary note carries a one-click unsubscribe.
Fullscreen keeps the barista's tools
Pause, failsafe, inventory and the station links stay on screen in fullscreen; only the title bar steps aside.
Coffee shops have their own home
A shop page with a rail of sections, a masthead in the shop's own accent that says open or closed right now and why, and a list that says opens Friday at 8:30.
Codes are boxes
Sign-in codes and priority codes are six boxes with a steady ring, and the priority code can be checked before the order is placed.
The wait deck flips
The back of the deck carries a three-step rail, who the order is under, how many cups and what is next. Bloom sits in a centred window on a desktop.
Table tents fold
Double-sided is the default: one cut, one fold, a face each way down the table. The folded trading card leads the sizes, and sheets print clean on an iPad.
Sign-up is open
Get started with an email code or Google, first event free. The landing page, the emails and the pricing cards were redrawn for launch, and Studio is $79 a month with four events included.