In Irish, ‘sásta’ is happy.

In Dallas, Sásta is the name of a new on-demand mobile application.

Pretty fitting, considering the app is built around the tagline: Happy people happy events.

Sásta calls itself “Dallas’ first on-demand bartender and server app,” as it can provide an entire catering staff with the touch of a button. By marrying technology and hospitality, Sásta’s platform houses a network of trained, licensed, and insured hospitality workers available for hire.

“Sásta is for service industry professionals, such as bartenders and servers, who are looking for work, and it’s for people who want or need help from those professionals at events,” founder and CEO Laura Beard told Dallas Innovates. “We were so happy with our decision to move forward and connect wonderful service industry professionals with awesome event opportunities that we decided to call ourselves Sásta, which is Irish for ‘happy.'”

As an event planner, Beard’s idea originated as a solution to problems she was personally experiencing. But, she quickly realized that it would probably benefit the industry as a whole—so, last year, Sásta was created.

[Photo: Courtesy Sásta]

Beard says that the app is intended to benefit three core audiences: service industry professionals, event planners, and everyone else.

On the party planning side, event coordinators are provided a simplified process of hiring high-quality professionals. Beard says you simply input how many servers and bartenders are needed at the event, and Sásta does the rest. For those hosting an event—anything from in-home cocktail parties to weddings to corporate gatherings—the app allows them to be a guest at their own party.

“We want to serve you and your guests,” Beard says. “You make memories, and we’ll make the cocktails.”

On the hospitality side, workers have the opportunity to choose gigs that are best compatible with their specific schedule. Because the Sásta mission is to “improve the service industry for all involved through technology,” Beard says the platform offers better and instant pay.

“The professionals in this industry deserve a pay increase,” she says. “We want to offer wages that are based on performance and allow event staff who are using the app to make enough money to put new opportunities within reach.”

How it works

Think of Sásta like the Uber or Postmates of bartenders: Click a button, and they’re there.

The app, which is free on Android and Apple, starts by asking a user questions about their event. Once set up, an order can be placed for the number of servers needed, and the Sásta network is notified that there is new work available. In-app assistance is available if needed to offer guidance on how to appropriately staff an event.

Servers and bartenders are available for $50 an hour, and are paid immediately through the app following an event.

“Service industry professionals download the version of the app that provides details about events that are available,” Beard says. “They can choose to work any event that is suited to their qualifications and availability.”

And, if a user happens to find that rare bartender that concocts a perfectly mixed cocktail, they can be favorited within the app and used again.

Today, Sásta has begun expanding outside of the North Texas region, and now staff events in Manhattan, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Beard credits her startup’s fast success to the talented network of servers within the app.

“People are excited to know that professional services are available and accessible to everyone for any kind of event. People like that it’s affordable, too,” Beard says. “It is no longer necessary to pay a catering or staffing company a $2,000 minimum for food when you really only want a bartender for your friend’s surprise birthday party.”