Our Story

A family of four posing inside a coffee shop, with a man holding a child and a woman standing with a child sitting on her lap, near a coffee counter with cups and a coffee grinder.

We’re Jesse and Alta—musicians, creatives, and married for over 14 years. Long before Coffee Cart was a business, we were just two twenty-somethings standing at a Minneapolis bus stop, handing out hot cups of coffee to strangers in the dead of winter—because it felt like a good way to love people. That spirit has followed us ever since. We’re not just coffee people. We’re builders. Dreamers. Musicians who realized that in order to support a creative life, we had to work for ourselves.

That journey began in 2014 with the original Coffee Cart Minneapolis, one of the first mobile espresso bars of its kind. We served weddings, art shows, backstage concerts, nonprofit galas, and early-morning offices—learning how to craft not just great drinks, but warm experiences that people remembered. In 2018, we launched Coffee Cart Nashville, and brought that same heart and hustle to the South. It quickly became a staple for events across the city, growing through word-of-mouth and the relationships we built with clients who came back again and again.

Today, Coffee Cart Nashville is still barista-owned and operated. Still personal. Still rooted in quality, community, and creativity. Whether we’re serving at a wedding, a corporate summit, or a cozy in-house breakfast, our mission is the same: make the coffee unforgettable, and the people feel seen.

These days, you’ll still catch us occasionally slinging lattes at events, but most of the time we’re behind the scenes—cheering on our incredible team, building the company for the future, and pouring energy into our other ventures: Side-by-Side Chai, Soda Club Nashville, tag-team homeschooling, and music projects The Prams, Gardenlike, Elta, Liv Signe, and Jesse Keller.

We recently moved a little farther out of the city to Spring Hill, where we’re loving life with our two boys, Navy and Holland, and our newest little love, Marjorie. It’s a wild, beautiful life—and we’re so grateful coffee is still at the center of it.

A person with curly brown hair and light skin behind another person with long blonde hair, pouring coffee from a machine into a black paper cup labeled 'Coffee Cart Nashville' at a coffee shop.
A coffee stand with a sign that says "Coffee Cart" and "Local MPLS Roasters." Two smiling baristas prepare coffee behind the counter, which is on a wooden floor with large windows in the background showing trees outside.
Three white paper bags with orange text and design, placed on a brown background. The bags display the words 'BYSIDE' and list products like chai, tea, latte, and mix. Locations mentioned include Nashville, TN, and Nashville, Tennessee.
Three children and adults in a coffee shop, with a child sitting on a counter while an adult makes coffee. The scene includes a white wall, a plant in the foreground, and various coffee-making equipment.
A man with curly hair wearing sunglasses and a white t-shirt standing beside a woman with platinum blonde hair, who is also wearing sunglasses and a white button-up dress, against a pink background.
A young woman with long blonde hair and a young man with curly brown hair sit on a beige couch against a white brick wall. The woman is wearing a pink and white striped dress and looks directly at the camera, while the man is wearing a white t-shirt and black pants, and is looking to the right, extending his arm along the back of the couch.