Feline lover finds ‘purr-fect’ spot for cat cafe in Avondale

There are people who love cats, and then there are people who love cats so much they’re willing to pay for the privilege of petting them.

A Birmingham woman is counting on that as she prepares to open what she believes will be Alabama’s first cat cafe in Avondale.

For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, a cat cafe is a coffee shop where people pay to go into a cat lounge and spend time petting, playing or just hanging around with cats. 

Kelli Steward, who has worked as a receptionist at the Alford Avenue Veterinary Hospital in Hoover for more than 22 years, plans to open such a cafe, called Gatos and Beans, at 4348 Third Court S., between Avondale Brewery and Cahaba Brewery.

The cat room at Gatos and Beans will be an extension of the Kitty Kat Haven & Rescue center next to Alford Avenue Veterinary Hospital. Kitty Kat Haven, a registered cat rescue and adoption center, will allow Steward to foster up to 20 cats at a time in her coffee shop and offer those cats up for adoption.

It’s a way to introduce cats that need a loving home to people with an affinity for them.

People will pay about $10 for access to the cat lounge for an hour and get either a regular coffee or regular tea, or they can upgrade to a latte or espresso for another $2.50, Steward said.

GROWING TREND

It may sound like a strange concept to pay to pet a cat, but it’s a growing trend across the world.

The first cat cafe opened its doors in Taiwan in 1998, according to Conde Nast Traveler. A Japanese tourist carried the concept to Japan in 2004 and then it came to North America in 2014, according to The Cat Cafe in San Diego, which claimed to be the fifth cat cafe in the United States when it opened in January 2015.

Now, there are believed to be 78 such establishments in the United States and 114 in North America, Steward said. 

There are at least three in the Atlanta area and others in Nashville, Memphis, Charlotte, Charleston and Savannah, Georgia.

“All of the big cities in the U.S. have them,” Steward said. “But they are still, at this point, very unique.”

Many people view them as destination locations for tourists, but they also are popular among people who live in those metro areas, Steward said. They are particularly attractive to college students whose dorms or rental units don’t allow pets or people who have family members with cat allergies, she said. Other people just like to hang out with cats on their lunch break or have them around at a gathering spot after work, she said.

Hadyn Hilton opened her Java Cats Cafe in Atlanta in March 2017 and found the cat lounge to be very popular. People make reservations in advance, and at times, she has had three-month waiting lists on the weekends. 

“We turn people away every single weekend,” she said. 

The Java Cats Cafe was so successful she opened a second one in nearby Marietta in July 2018. Together, the two cafes have placed almost 400 cats out for adoption, Hilton said.

From a business perspective, the average coffee shop takes three years to turn a profit, and “we should be on track for that,” she said. She expects to be able to pay the rent and make a comfortable living, but it’s not a big moneymaker, she said.

“You’re not going to make your retirement out of a cat cafe,” she said. “It’s definitely a labor of love most of the time.”

The cats are a big draw for the coffee shop, and fees for the cat room definitely surpass revenues from coffee sales, Hilton said.

But she’s not in it for the money, she said. She does it to help find homes for cats.

GETTING STARTED

Steward said she came up with the idea to start a cat cafe in January 2018. She and her husband visited Java Cats Cafe and by mid-March of last year had found where they wanted to put Gatos and Beans.

They looked in Woodlawn, but Steward felt a better vibe when she visited Avondale, which seems to be an up-and-coming area, she said. The spot she chose is an old tire store. It has about 1,370 square feet and at least 60 percent of it will be for the cat lounge. She is replacing two garage doors with big windows that allow the cats to see outside and allow people passing by to see the cats, as well.

The lounge will probably be limited to 10 or 12 people at a time because the cats would get stressed out if there were too many people at one time, Steward said. People will be able to make reservations online, but walk-ins will be accepted when the room is not fully occupied, she said.

Gatos and Beans will have coffee provided by Red Bicycle Coffee and baked goods such as cookies and scones from the Beehive Bakery, but there will be no on-site kitchen, Steward said. She also plans to offer beer and wine.

Steward won $10,000 to help get Gatos & Beans started by earning second place in REV Birmingham’s startup competition called The Big Pitch. She also won six months of free legal and accounting services and marketing assistance, she said.

Financing to get the business started still has been a challenge, so she also started a GoFundMe account that drew almost $1,000 in its first two weeks and launched a Kickstarter campaign.

Steward hopes to have construction complete and the business up and running by May 1.

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE 

John Willis, an Alabaster resident who has taken his family to cat cafes in Seattle and Orlando, said his 16-year-old daughter is going to want to be a regular visitor at the one in Avondale. “She loves her cats,” he said.

When they visited the Orlando Cat Cafe in December 2017, it wasn’t the best experience because a lot of the cats were timid and scared kittens, he said. 

But when they went to Meowtropolitan in Seattle, it was a great experience for both his children, he said. More of the cats were older and docile and welcomed the company, he said.

“It was worth the money spent,” he said. “To be honest, it probably was one of the most relaxing times on our vacation.”

The cafe was clean and didn’t have a bad odor, like some people might expect, Willis said.

The cat cafes they visited had rules, he said. “The cats are to come to you. You can’t chase them,” he said. “The cats had places where they could get away from people if they wanted to.”

But at Meowtropolitan, the cats came to his kids and were very friendly, he said.

Steward said while she doesn’t have experience in the coffee business, she has worked in the restaurant business before and has done customer service work as a receptionist at the animal hospital.

Also, she has hired Marc Blumenthal, who worked at Crestwood Coffee for five to seven years, as her barista and front of house manager.

Steward said she loves all animals but is partial to cats and looks forward to opening and helping them find homes.

 “It has not been all wine and roses, but we’re getting there,” she said.

To learn more, go to gatosandbeans.com or visit Gatos and Beans on Facebook or Instagram.

This article was updated at 11:31 a.m. on March 27 to change the expected opening date for Gatos and Beans to be by May 1.