The Orlando Cat Cafe is now open. The cats arrived mid-week. The food side of the cafe, Axum Coffee, opened Wednesday. And the Cat Cafe itself officially opened at noon on Thursday.
There were 12 cats and scores of cat lovers on hand to mingle in the giant cat playroom. That paradise for cats was furnished by way of a $5,000 grant from Petco. At the coffee shop next door, a major attraction seemed to be the big observation window, so people could watch the cats play while waiting for coffee, tea or pastries. Or they could go into the playroom and dine among the cats, pick out one to adopt — or just get a cat fix.
Cagan described the 20 months since she got the idea for the cafe as a 19-month “labor of love” followed by one month of just “labor.”
Speaking of the cafe cats, Cagan said, “they acclimated in about three minutes. They looked around and started playing with the toys.”
The Cat Cafe is a partnership between Cagan Management Group, the Animal League (formerly South Lake Animal League) and Winter Garden based Axum Coffee. The objective of the cafe is to provide forever homes for those felines lucky enough to land a slot there. Within the first hour Rebekah Stoe was at the back of the cafe at one of the iPad stations, filing an application to adopt a long-haired Siamese blend named Estee Lauder.
“I want an office cat,” Stoe said. “I want to keep it at Subaru. The boss said yes.”
All visitors to the Cat Cafe go through Axum first. If they have made reservations online for the Cat Cafe, the folks at Axum give them stickers. If they are walk-ins and there is room, they get stickers. So while Axum is its own separate business, it is a vital part of the whole arrangement.
Axum donates all of its profits to charitable causes, in particular, to make living conditions better in the Ethiopian city of Axum. The coffee company is the brainchild of Renaut van der Riet, who is lead pastor at Oakland-based Mosaic Church. Suzanne Bernal is operations manager at Axum.
“We want to make a lot of money so we can give a lot of money away,” she said. “I think the Cagan Crossings location will be good for us. It’s kind of a risk, but Sandy has been awesome. She’s a go-getter.”
Cat Cafe hours are 10-6, six days a week. It is closed on Monday. Axum Coffee keeps longer hours. The Cat Cafe website is www.orlandocatcafe.com.
The reservation system is intended to make sure that the cat room does not get over-crowded. Cagan figures 20 people at a time is a good limit.