I was hoping to give you a much more positive update today. I was hoping to tell you that the inspections went well, and that The Cat Cafe was going to open on a specific date.

But sometimes, life doesn’t allow you to say the things you want to. And all I can do is apologize.

I know that there are a lot of people who have been counting on me to get this place open. And I’m sorry to disappoint them.

One of the things you learn when you are running a business, especially one that involves construction in a previously occupied older building, is that there are lots of things that were done in the past which now no longer comply with building codes.

And that is what has happened. Some of the work done previously does not comply with code, and it has to be fixed in order for The Cat Cafe to get an occupancy permit. And I will not open without one.

I’ve stressed all along how I want The Cat Cafe to succeed as an ethically run business. How can I say that if I cut corners on city inspections?

So I won’t.

Yes, this means a delay. Yes, it means I’m going to incur more costs. But you know what? I’d rather do it right and take more time and spend more money than do it quickly and wrong and have to spend the money later to correct it anyway.

I do apologize for the delay, but know this. Nobody is more anxious than I am to get The Cat Cafe open. It is a huge milestone for this business, and I am working very hard to get there. It is taking longer than I anticipated, and I do apologize for that.

But know that I’m going to work hard to get The Cat Cafe open as quickly as I can. Over the past few weeks, I’ve left right after I gave my cat Bagheera the insulin shot he needs for his diabetes, and returned just in time to give him the evening shot. I haven’t taken a day off. And I’ll keep on doing that as long as I need to in order to get this place up and running.

If you have any questions, please call or email. Thank you so much for your support and thank you for your continued patience. It will be rewarded.

If you’ve been following us on social media lately, you know that we’re getting close. The Cat Cafe passed the first inspection, for the plumbing. How much does it cost to install a commercial grade sink and faucet? Don’t ask.

One of the downsides of an old building is that you have no clue what is inside the walls until you open them up to do your work. When the plumber you hire to do the work takes a look and his jaw drops, and he has to call in a far more experienced plumber to tell him what to do, you know it’s going to be bad.

And it was. He was here working very hard for pretty much a full day. But in the end, we got our ADA compliant, commercial grade bathroom sink and it passed inspection.

We also got the coffee cart installed, and we’ll have that inspected tomorrow. Right now, we’re still doing a lot of drywall work, so I’m only going to give you a little teaser because I don’t want drywall dust all over it.

Then on Tuesday, we get the glass put in, and one of the three doors. The remaining doors come on Friday, and then we will have the build out completed. There will be an inspection after that’s done.

I know you have two questions. How long will this take, and how long until the cats come in?

Well, once the doors are installed, then I’ll be able to put in the cats. That’s looking like Friday or Saturday, because I want all construction to be completed before they come in. Cats, an unfamiliar environment, and construction noise at the same time? Bad combination, and something I don’t want at The Cat Cafe.

Then it will be time for the final inspection and we can open our doors. I am looking at whether I am allowed to open the doors for business pending the final inspection to move things along a little. We’ll see.

But The Cat Cafe does have one resident cat right now. He’ll be joined by eight cats from the San Diego Humane Society. I’m going for special needs cats so that I can highlight how these guys can be wonderful and loving animals.

Soon, San Diegans and visitors will be able to enjoy a locally roasted cup of coffee and the company of adoptable cats at The Cat Cafe.

I’ve been at a trade event for the aviation industry for the past couple of days. You might be wondering, what exactly does the aviation industry have to do with The Cat Cafe?

That’s a good question. I’m happy to answer it.

I’m sure everyone knows San Diego is a very popular city for tourists to visit. And it only makes sense. With our almost always gorgeous weather, attractions like the San Diego Zoo, and our world famous beaches, whatever the time of year, people like to visit.

Someone has to get them there. And a lot of the people who get them there are the ones who either fly them there or make sure they’re taken care of en route.

Having the airport so close to downtown San Diego has its upsides and downsides. The downside, especially for those living near the flight path, is the airplane noise. The upside, from the perspective of The Cat Cafe, is having a lot of pilots and flight attendants staying in downtown hotels.

And having the opportunity to introduce them to the concept of The Cat Cafe is a good way to create additional customers, who also can help spread the word within the aviation community.

For the past two days, I’ve been in Las Vegas, meeting with pilots and flight attendants from many of the airlines that take you around the world. I’ve had the opportunity to explain to them what The Cat Cafe will offer and why it’s worth stopping in. Sure, they can get their coffee from the hotel or the chain coffee shops nearby. But if they want to enjoy a locally roasted coffee and get to play with animals when they miss their pets, why not?

And that is the reaction I’ve gotten. They’re excited about the concept, and they’re happy that they’re going to have the chance to show their colleagues something new and interesting during their next trip to San Diego.

If you’ve been following The Cat Cafe since the beginning, you know that we did a crowd funding campaign to get the funds we needed to open. We didn’t hit our goal, but the money that we got from the crowd funding was enough to fund getting the needed permits and the build out of the facility.

One of the perks we offered those who contributed over a certain amount was a private party for themselves and ten of their friends before we officially open. Who wouldn’t like to get a behind the scenes look at a place before it was open to the public? Of course that’s a fun thing.

And while that’s definitely something The Cat Cafe was prepared to do, the generous contributor who was entitled to that perk said it wasn’t needed.

When I wrote to this contributor to set up a time for the pre-opening party, this is what I got back:

Hi Tony!

I’m so happy that you’re almost there!! 

I was happy to contribute and, to be honest, I don’t want you expending any extra money or effort into a party.  Unless you’re planning to do some kind of press for advertising, I’d be more than happy to meet you and the cats and you can spot me a nice cup of Joe 🙂

You hear all the time about customers who feel like their purchase entitles them to treatment far beyond the ordinary, and who are, to be blunt, real jerks about it.

If this person is typical of the people who will become customers of The Cat Cafe, I don’t think that’s something we have to worry about.

Speaking of perks, by now, all of you who contributed and selected a mug as your perk should have received them. If you haven’t, let me know and I’ll start the trace so that you get one.

Thanks for everything!

Hi, everyone! I wanted to keep you up to date on what is going on here at The Cat Cafe.

First, I want to thank everyone who’s been inquiring about The Cat Cafe and what is happening. A number of you have asked when we will open, what our hours will be, and so on.

Now that I have the needed permits in hand and have taken possession of the space, I can give you more details on what’s going on.

The plan is to have a soft open for The Cat Cafe sometime the week of October 27. There will be a private event for one of the contributors to the crowd funding campaign we ran this spring, which will give us a chance to work on making sure everything is ready for when we open to the public.

Then we’ll have a launch party the weekend of November 1, where our partner agency, the media, and other notables will be present. After that, we’ll open our doors for real.

As far as hours go, The Cat Cafe will be initially be open from 7 AM until 3 PM seven days a week. I’ve had a number of people ask if we could open during the evening, and the answer to that question is we’ll see. If there is enough demand to justify it financially, then I’ll extend the hours.

But for now, I want to make sure that we don’t overextend ourselves and that I don’t get too ambitious too soon.

I know that it’s been a long time and that many of you have been waiting patiently for a while now. I’m going to ask you to bear with me just a little longer because The Cat Cafe will be open before you know it!

Thanks for your continued support. I’m looking forward to saying hello to you in person!

If you’ve been following our updates, you know that we attended the Los Angeles Feline Film Festival. Many other cities have held feline film festivals, and with one coming to Southern California, I decided that The Cat Cafe needed to make an appearance.

It made for a long day. I left early on Sunday morning and drove from San Diego to Los Angeles.  Los Angeles is known for horrible traffic, but on this day, it was smooth sailing.

It didn’t take long to set up the booth for The Cat Cafe. Given that we are a coffee shop and animal adoption facility, it’s not really possible to bring that to the event. So I set up a couple of signs, some postcards, and got ready to do explain the concept to people attending the event.

There were thousands of cat enthusiasts at the event, all happy to hear about how The Cat Cafe will feature locally roasted coffee and how we will have adoptable animals from the San Diego Humane Society available for people to play with if they want to. They loved the message, especially the part about how I want to highlight special needs cats where possible. The goal is to find cats homes, but also to educate people on how special needs cats can be loving companions for the right person.

While I was busy working from before the gates opened at 1 PM until the screening of the films, I still found time to have some fun and to get a picture of one of the celebrity cats in attendance. Tara Hero Cat sure seems to be relaxed and enjoying herself.

I also collected more than 100 emails from people who were interested in getting updates on what’s happening, and I gave away hundreds of cards with information about The Cat Cafe.

It’s been a busy week here so far, and I’ll have more updates for you later on what’s happening. We are definitely moving things along!

One of the questions that I get from people is when the shirts and mugs they were scheduled to get as part of The Cat Cafe’s crowd funding campaign will arrive. I know that initially, I planned on having those to you by June but that was with an opening date of July. As you are all very aware of, due to the typical delays with paperwork and bureaucratic processes, which were exacerbated due to this being a new concept that hasn’t been done anywhere in the United States, that goal was not met.

But as we get closer to a date where we will open — I’ll have some news on that soon — it became time to order merchandise for The Cat Cafe.

And so I did it. I put an order in for t-shirts, travel mugs, and coffee mugs. The vendors I spoke with said that I should receive these soon. In fact, I just received notification that the shipment of travel mugs and t-shirts is on its way right now. They’re projected to arrive next Tuesday, and you better believe that I’ll be sending out The Cat Cafe t-shirts right after they do.

Given that I’m not a designer, I think this isn’t half bad! I wanted it to be a simple, clean design that anyone could wear.

And if there’s enough demand for it, I’ll also make tank tops for women. But for now, it’s going to be t-shirts. I’ve got unisex sizes ranging from small to extra large.

I didn’t offer travel mugs during the crowd funding campaign, but I figure you’d like to see what those look like as well. Again, given that I’m not a designer, I think these turned out well. I’d definitely be willing to drink coffee out of these in my car.

I don’t have a good mockup of the ceramic mug that some of you will be getting because instead of just putting the image on one side, I have it wrapped around the entire mug. That’s something both you and I will have to wait to see.

I know what the next question will be. I didn’t get one during the crowd funding campaign. Will it be possible to order these?

The answer to that is yes. I’ll be setting up an e-commerce platform soon, and you will be able to get the regular mug for $10, the travel mug for $15, and the t-shirts for $15.

Or you can wait until we open and purchase one of the mugs. If you do that, you will receive a free 12 ounce drink of your choice. And, when you come back, you’ll receive $0.25 off the purchase of any drinks because we want to encourage you to reduce the amount of waste we create.

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please contact me.

Thanks for being a supporter of The Cat Cafe!

I’ve got some very exciting news to share with you today. The Cat Cafe will be exhibiting at the LA Feline Film Festival.

This is a really cool opportunity to introduce the concept of a cat cafe to as many as 10,000 people in the Southern California area. We’ll be at one of the exhibitor tables, and we’ll be giving out information about where we’re located and what we’ll be offering to customers.

The festival will run from 1:00 PM until 10:00 PM on Sunday, September 21. It will be held on Christmas Tree Drive at the Los Angeles Exposition Center.

That video was filmed at the Feline Film Festival that took place last year in Minnesota.

As much as I’d like to say that The Cat Cafe will be one of the big draws to the event, that’s just not true. There will be three celebrity cats — celebricats? — at the event. From 1:00 to 1:45 PM, Dusty the Klepto Cat will be in the celebrity cat tent. Make sure that everything you have with you is secured, because Dusty gained notoriety for stealing all sorts of things from his neighborhood.

After Dusty leaves the stage, one cat whose actions helped save a child will take his place. Tara, Hero Cat, will be in the celebrity cat tent from 2:00 until 4:00 PM.

When Tara is done with her turn in the spotlight, Lil Bub will stroll on. She’ll be there from 5:00 until 7:00 PM.

Besides the celebrity cats, there will be a full day of events and seminars where people talk about their experiences in creating interesting cat videos. Entertainers of the two legged variety will also take the stage.

It will be a fun day for everyone involved. I definitely recommend that anyone in the Southern California area stop by to visit. If you do, please come by our booth and say hello. I’d love to meet you in person!

Remember how I told you that I am confident that there is a market for The Cat Cafe because of the reception they’ve had in London and Paris and because of the long waits they’ve seen? Now I don’t have to tell people about cat cafes in Europe and Asia. I can point to one in Canada.

North America’s first permanent cat cafe, Le Cafe des Chats, opened Montreal this past weekend and I think it’s safe to say that the opening was a huge success. One visitor had to wait in line for 40 minutes in order to get in. Staff said this was necessary in order to avoid stressing the cats on the first day of operations.

Another visitor said that the scene was borderline chaos and added “the cats were the most civilized out of everyone.”

The eight cats present seemed to handle the craziness on opening day in stride. There is one major difference between the operations of The Cat Cafe and Le Cafe des Chats, besides the language. While we both will work with animal rescue groups to find cats who are well suited to the environment, The Cat Cafe will feature cats who can be adopted. Le Cafe des Chats will not. Instead, their cats will be ambassadors and will be permanent residents.

It’s great to see the kind of reaction to this cat cafe. While you never really know until you do it yourself, seeing other cat cafes seeing such high initial demand is definitely reassuring.