It’s been a huge couple of weeks for affoGATO Cat Cafe!
First, a quick update on what we’ve been up to:
On the not-so-fun side, there is a TON of city regulation stuff involved in opening a cafe that we couldn’t start until we signed the lease. These include permits, licenses, etc, which have specific requirements like architectural drawings and commercial equipment lists. We’ve been talking to city officials, our contractor, financial and small business advisers, etc to get the ball rolling on this stuff.
On the fun side, we’ve been having lots of meetings out in the community as we work to finalize our menu and the build of our cafe/lounge spaces. We’ve also been responding to hundreds of calls and emails from people and organizations all over Cleveland. There are so many amazing animal lovers, creative entrepreneurs, and coffee aficionados who have reached out to us, and we feel so excited and fortunate to speak to each of you.
We hope to have a few big announcements and lots of progress pics over the next few weeks as we finalize this stuff and start renovating! While our current space is really nice, we do have a lot of work to do to make it suitable for the cats, so if you haven’t already, please consider donating here. Even just $10 will let you register before the general public!
Press Round-Up
We were very fortunate to have been featured in several places the last two weeks! Cleveland seems ready for a cat cafe, and we were so excited to be able to share our vision and mission with all of you!
Cleveland is Getting its First Cat Cafe! – Kate Kaput, Greatest Escapist blog. Kate wasn’t the first to post, but it was her Tweet that let Cleveland know we were coming! Featuring an FAQ (and pics!) with her two adorable cats Helo and Dora.
With affoGATO, Cleveland is Finally Getting a Cat Cafe – Nikki Delamotte, Cleveland.com. Nikki did an amazing job answering pretty much every question you could possibly have about affoGATO—from our mission, to how a visit works, to our silly name.
Sound Purr-fect? Cat Cafe Coming to Cleveland – Roosevelt Leftwich, Fox8 Cleveland. A video showing off the property, answering questions, and more. Features a fantastic interview with the Cleveland Animal Protective League.
Meet the Cat Cafe Owners of the Soon-to-Open affoGATO – Zachariah Durr, Cleveland.com. Zachariah sat down with us for a video FAQ about our mission and how we hope to interact with the community and local businesses.
A Cat Cafe Called affoGATO is Coming to Cleveland – WKYC. A short announcement about affoGATO and our ongoing fundraiser.
Thank you again to all of these talented writers, journalists, editors, and more for these wonderful pieces!
We can’t wait to keep sharing our progress with everyone! In the meantime, please feel free to email, call, or comment on any of our social media accounts (@affoGATOcatcafe) with any questions or comments that you may have!