Come sit down, relax, drink your favorite beverage and have your feline friends curled into your lap.
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Come sit down, relax, drink your favorite beverage and have your feline friends curled into your lap.
About this project
(Please follow us on Facebook for updates and cat facts!
Also, please read our FAQ section. We are replying to the most commonly asked questions)
https://twitter.com/Catfe_CA
https://www.facebook.com/LACatfe)
MEDIA COVERAGE
http://www.laweekly.com/squidink/2014/02/25/toyko-style-cat-cafe-catfe-may-be-coming-to-la
To aid and serve the animal population while providing delectable drinks and memories to our guests.
Catfe serves to create something more than just a place to come and enjoy your time with cats and coffee. Because of the unique nature of this establishment, we seek to take full embrace of it and create a stronger community through it.We want Catfe to be a hub where we can spread the awareness of pet health and safety, hold adoptions from nearby shelters, have animal therapy sessions with local non-profits that are specifically geared towards children and the elderly, the possibilities truly reach far!
For those worried about the cats, we will be sure to choose cats that are well mannered and well adept to being around many people. The cats will have their own private quarters. Guests must wash their hands before interacting with the cats. We will consult with the shelters to make sure the cats are stress free, healthy, and happy.
All of our cats will come from the local shelters. We wish to adopt them out as well after a year to give other cats the chance to come and stay with us and continue that cycle so more cats can find forever loving homes through us as well as by proxy.
We are firm believers in animal therapy, and see this as catching two birds with one stone. Guests can come in and relax with the cats, and the cats get all the love and attention they want. We will be providing them with toys and comforts to spoil them dearly.
Our delectable treats and drinks will be no slouch either! The purple drink in the middle was dubbed "Top Floor" back when I first concocted it at a tea shop I worked at. It is an amalgamation of blueberry, pomegranate, lemon, strawberry and ??? It tastes amazing!
Our in house coffees, teas, drinks, and snacks will be of the utmost importance as well! We want Catfe to have its own unique and satisfying flavor that comes from pure ingredients and attention to detail..
We also see this as a way to bring local artists, bakers, designers, and the sorts together! We really want the community to feel like this is there place as much as it is ours and show off our unique LA style! We could have painters and graffiti artists come and paint murals, local bakers show case their best treats at our shop, clothing designers creating cat themed shirts and hoodies, game designers creating cat games on our website, film makers creating masterpieces around our cats!
I have a business plan and I am looking into approaching investors as well. But I really feel that crowd funding is the way to go. It gives us a chance to better connect with our community and have you all be a part of the process!
It is up to us to make this happen, and we are very excited to share our process with you all!
With the initial funding secured, we will be ready to set out and start building Catfe! We can still throw in some additional perks though to make Catfe even more pleasantly unique! Help LongCat grow by reaching our stretch goals!
(If anyone has issues with the video above, here is the Youtube link)
Risks and challenges
Pet cafes are unique and very new to the states. The first concern was licensing and legality of such an establishment. We figured it was not too far off of the concept of a petting zoo and the likes. We got the green light from the LA Animal Services Department, they directed us to which proper forms would be needed and thought the idea was great!
Next was the LA Public Health Department. The way the cafe is being set up, the food and drinks will not be near the cats at all. They will have their own secluded room to play or relax with their human guests, and also have their own private quarters when they wish relax away from the lime light. Check plus on that! We talked to one of the head officials at the health department and got his OK on the idea!
We are still in the midst of shopping for locations. I have already done some footwork and got lots of information ready for when we have the funds to procure a place. We want an easy to access, prime location. I think the natural place to open it would be Little Tokyo in Downtown. I was also thinking of Santa Monica 3rd St. Promenade as a secondary choice. A lot of this will also be depending on space available, costs, and what the landlords say when approached with this idea. I will keep the updates handy via the progress chart and blog updates once we are closer to finalizing a deal for location.
I am an experienced entrepreneur and leader with some ties to different outreach programs. I am fairly acquainted with being in charge of people, events, and mishaps and how to turn negatives into positives, even if it is by some unforeseen occurrence
I want the best for our cats, and the best for our guests, as well as the community around us. We see this not only as a way to make business, but also a way to build a stronger community by working closely with non-profits both for animals and people.
Even if things go awry from unknown sources, we will take it upon ourselves to figure out the best solution and be transparent about it to the public. Other than that, we will put all of our thoughts, effort and emotions to making sure we take the proper steps the first time around while being pliable enough to learn as we go!
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To ensure the comfort of our own cats, we will not be allowing cats from guests to join us. We understand that cats can be very territorial at times, especially when meeting other felines. That is why we are hand selecting our cats based on temperament and their ability to coexist with others and be stress free around people. We would like to avoid any altercations by keeping the cat crowd limited.
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Some maybe thinking this is a steep price for opening a cafe, and it is! But because we are not some normal cafe, we had to think, plan, and ask more seasoned professionals what their thoughts on pricing this out was.
All prices depend on square footage and location, both which are of the utmost importance to us to help make this successful once we are open.
100-150K seems to be the usual startup amount for a low to mid range size cafe in a place with minimal to decent foot traffic.
We are looking at 2 locations. Ideally, we would like open up in DownTown LA Little Tokyo area, since this was inspired by my trip to Tokyo, this seems like a natural fit. Little Tokyo Plaza is a high traffic area on some nights and weekends, and therefore the leases cost a little more.
Our square footage will need to be divided in two. I spoke to one of the chief directors at the LA health department, Marco Espinoza, which he stated,"Animals can not be in the same building as the food, but you can have two spaces next to each other as long as they have different addresses, and customers can have their drinks where the animals are if that is their choice."
We either need to lease two small or medium sized spaces next to each other, or find a landlord that would be ok with us putting up a dividing wall in the middle and have two separate entrances and two addresses for one space.
If no landlords in Little Tokyo would wish to accommodate our needs, then we would like to try Santa Monica 3rd St. Promenade area next. Both of these locations are high value areas. Prime location means that we won't have to be struggling for visibility and good business.
We are not just doing this for business sake, but for the well being of the cats as well, and for opportunity to work more closely with the community through the non-profits and animal shelters. We really want to be able to give back.
We want to have the funds to have a great location, both for our guests and our cats, and enough to cover all of the expenses that are required to open a regular cafe, plus all of the expenses required to have everything we need to keep the cats happy and healthy(Toys, food, vet visits, etc.) Plus enough of a cushion just in case there come any unexpected costs, we realize that is totally possible because this is such a new concept to LA, and permits and licensing fees may pop up where they were not expected.
We are dealing with the well beings or our cats and we want to make sure we do not leave anything to chance as well as grow a successful business and community. We believe that with enough exposure, reaching our goal is positively attainable with the help of you, and our great community of LA and cat lovers world wide! ₍˄·͈༝·͈˄₎◞ ̑̑ෆ⃛
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In short, NO.
In full; When our doors open it will be divided into two different buildings merged together. The cats can not be in the same space as the food or drink preparation, but guests can have their drinks and snacks where the cats are.
You will have the opportunity to either get a drink and watch the kitties through the plexi-glass wall, get a drink and visit the cats, or just visit the cats. Drinks will be priced accordingly, cat visits will be by the half-hour to an hour or unlimited time.
Drinks & Snacks - less than $5 each
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Cat Visits
30 minutes =$7
1 hour = $10
Unlimited Time = $13
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Drink and Cat Combo
30 minutes = $10
1 hour = $13
Unlimited time = $18
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Merchandise will vary depending on what is being sold as we want to support local artists and give them percentages and credit for their work as well.The prices and incentives in this campaign are to help get Catfe up and running and to insure we have everything we need for the cats and our guests.
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Funding period
- (39 days)