Does the Exnem cart work on unowned lots? Does someone have to turn it on or activate it in some way or do you just put it on the community lot?

That is what happened to me. I have the lot set at 20 sims and I got tired of selecting everyone just to buy coffee. The dessert cart came in handy on this lot but I use it on a few others, too.

I think, that what Rexy was referring to was the post just about theirs, where Annaminna posted a download link..

It works on my unowned Library.

Thanks! Nobody buys coffee anywhere for me either but if they could eat something other than going to a restaurant, it would sort of approximate sitting together and drinking coffee.

you're welcome

This thread is making me wonder. I know I've been annoyed at townies buying coffee before because there was such a line before my Sim had their turn, but now that I think about it I don't think that has happened in a long time. Will have to test and see. If EA broke it at some point it shouldn't be too hard to unbreak it.

Are they set to be autonomous for NPC or not? That would help. I never play with the bars/café thing in general, and I never opened one up to look inside either.

The espresso bar is quite broken and in more than one way.
If you have M&G but not AL it vanishes.
If a family member of an owned business tries to sell coffee nobody ever will buy coffee. You have to hire someone and even then traffic to it is ridiculously slow.
On unowned lots sims normally flock to it and for some reason want to walk behind it. If sim A (controlled) tries to buy sim B (non controlled) a coffee, Sim B will walk behind it and meanwhile some other sim will grab their coffee from the front! Last time I tried to buy coffee at a uni this happened 3 times in a row and I gave up as my controllable was shaking from all the coffee that she was consuming alone or with some other random dormie who had stolen the other cup. This for me is the worst bug of them all.

There is a mod that stops townies flocking to it. I grabbed that recently but have yet to try it. I probably tossed it into this folder I have on my desk top.

It's so inconsistent in my game! My sims often roll wants to "buy coffee for." So I have them attempt it, and the other sim accepts and they get the points popping up, but...then everything goes to shit. It's basically what you're describing, I think: only one of the sims actually gets their coffee! Some random steals the other cup. But I say it's so inconsistent, because if my husband is playing (on the exact same computer in the exact same hood on the exact same com lot but just with a different playable sim), it works no problem. I have no idea what's going on.