Hireable waiters/refreshment staff NPCs -- in other words, level 1 NPCs who can follow PCs around certain areas (e.g. to safe areas in Dementlieu and Vallaki), and have access to a trade inventory to sell refreshments/food.
I guess rather than try to control how these NPCs are used via code, they could come with an OOC warning when hired to not use them in silly, atmosphere-breaking ways (e.g. getting them killed fighting rats in the sewers), so that people would know to use them responsibly.
It's useful to have your own NPCs to organise events; while the job can theoretically be done by PCs, I don't think most players look to log on to play a bar job (sure, some do, but not a lot). It'd be a useful option and a further gold sink that adds something to the game, and IMO lets PCs do more fun plotting/RP.