Open your gate.
Hosting is exactly as small as you want it to be. One neighbor, one cortado, one morning — that counts. Here's what it involves, before you decide.
How it works
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Describe your setup
Your gear, your space, how many people fit, roughly when you're around. Takes about ten minutes, and you can change every bit of it later.
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Flip the switch to Open
Only when you're pouring. Nobody can order while you're closed. If you forget to close, we close you after four hours.
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Pour coffee. Meet a neighbor.
They order ahead and walk over, or grab it curbside from your driveway, or just sit down. Your call which of those you offer.
What you're agreeing to
The short version.
- Your address stays private until you accept someone's order. Even on the map, you're a soft circle over your neighborhood — not a pin on your front door.
- You choose who can order. Everyone, or only guests who've confirmed an email and added a real photo, or only guests with a few good visits already behind them.
- You can close, pause, or delete anytime. You don't have to tell us why, and there's no minimum and no penalty.
- You can block anyone, for any reason, without explaining it to us or to them.
- You're not our employee or our contractor. It's your space and your coffee, and how you run it is up to you.
Money stays simple
Most hosts run on donations — you put a Venmo or Cash App link on your page and it goes straight to you. The app never touches your money and takes no cut. If you'd rather price things, you can: a fixed price, a suggested donation, or pay-what-you-like, item by item.
Once it stops being a tip jar and starts being income, there are a few rules to know. They're below. Utah's are unusually easy, which is a large part of why this started here.
Selling in Utah
Neighbors and a tip jar
No paperwork. Having people over for coffee and leaving a jar out isn't a business. It's where everyone starts, and plenty of hosts never go past it. Nothing else on this page is required to open your gate tomorrow.
Selling coffee from home
Utah's Home Consumption and Homemade Food Act makes selling homemade food and drinks from your home legal statewide. It's one of the friendliest laws in the country for this:
- A business license is required — but no state registration, no inspection, and no cap on sales.
- Sales must be in person, direct to the person drinking it, inside Utah, not for resale.
- Your menu needs a short disclosure line and an allergen list.
- Meat and raw unpasteurized dairy are out. Pasteurized milk is fine, so espresso drinks are allowed.
If you're in Salt Lake City, the whole checklist is:
- A city business license. Home-based counts as a "home occupation." Apply at slc.gov → Finance → Business Licensing. Millcreek, Murray, Holladay and the rest each have their own version of the same thing.
- A food handler permit. Not strictly required on this path — but it's an online course and a small county fee, roughly $20–30, good for about three years. Do it anyway. We'll put a badge on your page for it.
- The disclosure line on your menu. We'll print it for you automatically once you mark yourself licensed — one checkbox instead of homework.
- Optional but smart: an LLC (about $59 to file in Utah) so the cafe isn't legally you, and a five-minute call to your homeowner's insurance agent about a rider.
Packaged goods and shipping
This is a separate path. Utah's cottage food registration (a UDAF consultation, an inspection, and a required food handler permit) covers shelf-stable packaged goods sold beyond in person. Drinks don't need it. Selling bags of your roast on a grocery shelf, or shipping them to a stranger, does. Beyond that you're into commercial kitchen rules.
Not legal advice — this is our best reading of Utah's rules as of August 2026, compiled to save you an afternoon of searching, not to replace an attorney. Your city may differ. Check before you charge.
One hard rule: no alcohol
No alcohol may be listed, sold, served, or suggested through Backyard Barista. No menu items, no "BYOB" in your description, no boozy add-ons, no winking about it. Utah's alcohol law is among the strictest in the country, and social-host liability here is real.
Questions people ask
Do I need a permit just to have neighbors over for coffee?
No. A tip jar and an open gate is just having people over. Nothing required.
What if I set up a listing and nobody comes?
Then you had a quiet Saturday and it cost you nothing. Being open is a switch you flip, not a shift you signed up for. Nobody sees a "0 visits" number but you.
Do I have to keep set hours?
No. The hours on your page are a rough "this is when I'm usually around," so people know when to look. The Open switch is the real signal, and it's entirely manual. You are never expected to be open because your page says so.
Who sees my address?
Only someone whose order you've personally accepted, and only after you accept it. Browsers, the map, and the search results all stop at your neighborhood.
Can I host from an apartment or a rental?
As far as the app is concerned, yes — a balcony and an AeroPress is a cafe. Whether your lease or HOA agrees is between you and them, and worth a look before you open.
What about my homeowner's insurance?
If you're just having guests over, that's what your policy already imagines. Once money is changing hands regularly, call your agent and ask about a rider.
What if someone's weird?
Block them. One tap, no explanation owed, and they can't order from you again. You can also report them to us, and you can require verified or established guests before anyone can order at all.
What do you take?
Nothing, today. Donations go host-to-guest and the app is never in the middle of them. If we ever charge for anything, it'll be optional, and only for hosts making real money. We'll tell you before it happens.
Start with a tip jar
Make a listing, leave it closed, look at it for a week. You can decide whether to ever flip the switch after that.