Charn Williams told us here at The Best Cat Page, “My partner Mike and I, along with our good friend Vicky started The Cat Lounge.
This is New Zealand’s very first cat cafe!
At the present time, we have 17 cats residing at the cafe and they are all rescues!”
We asked Charn what prompted them to start such a business and she replied,
“We wanted to visit a Cat Café after hearing of a friend who had visited one overseas. Being huge cat lovers, this seemed like a great idea – until we Googled it and realized there wasn’t one in New Zealand.
We spoke with our close friend Vicky Chapman – a chef – who had a goal to open her own business to pursue her passion of baking. It was soon decided that if there wasn’t one here to visit, we would open the country’s first Cat Café.
As we have rescued cats at home, it was a given that the café cats would all be rescued.”
We asked Charn how the locals have responded to having a cat cafe in town and Charn replied, “Not only have they accepted it, they relish it!:
We then asked Charn about her overall mission.
“We have repeat customers constantly expressing how they love to be able to hang out with cats – and even better that they’re all rescued! While we do encounter the occasionally nay-sayer (more than likely dog lovers), the majority of people who hear about our café really like the concept.
Our mission is to provide a unique experience to cat lovers of all ages and abilities, while also raising awareness of the adoption of cats. While our resident cats have found their furever (heh) home here at the Café, we have a wall featuring rescued cats that are available for adoption through one of our partners, Lonely Miaow Association Incorporated.”
Since the wall has featured photos of adoptable cats, roughly 6 have been adopted. Considering the cafe has only been open for two months, that’s not a bad start!
When we asked Charn if they have had any obstacles to overcome since they started she replied, “As we are the first in New Zealand to launch a Cat Cafe, understandably many people had not heard of the concept before and thus were confused. A lot of people thought you brought your own cat to the café, and we have actually had people turn up with their furry friends!
We have had a few people in other cities state that we should open a Cat Café in other places in NZ. At present we have Franchise opportunities available on our website, so there is definitely potential to expand The Cat Lounge to other cities in NZ.
As far as the daily operations go, “Mike looks after the “cat” side of things, while Vicky looks after the kitchen – along with baristas Zoe and Davina. I help Mike out on the weekends and as often as I can.
We’re all a strange, cat-crazy bunch. In fact, when interviewing for baristas, there was a question asking how weird the applicant was – we needed wacky staff to fit in with our fun, cat-loving culture!”
We here at The Best Cat Page wish Charn and Mike and the gang the best in all of their future kitty endeavors!
Watch the video of the cafe in action!
Video source: www.youtube.com