Orlando Cat Cafe celebrates grand opening with 'paws'-itive reviews

CLERMONT  At the Orlando Cat Cafe, as soon as the cats’ paws hit the floor, their human guests were waiting ready by the door to play with them.

After 20 months of preparation, Central Florida’s first cat cafe officially opened Thursday, Sept. 8, in the Town Center at Cagan Crossings in Clermont. A partnership between South Lake Animal League in Groveland, Axum Coffee and Cagan Management Group Inc., the cafe is also the first of its kind in Florida.

Owner Sandra Cagan got the idea to open a cat cafe in December 2014, when NBC did a story about one in New York. 

“The story stayed with me for several days,” Cagan said. “I’ve been a lifetime lover of cats, and I’ve been in a property-management and development business for 20 years, so I thought, ‘How could I put these two concepts together?’ Twenty months later, here we are.”

Some cat cafes have resident cats that live there permanently, but Cagan wanted to change that concept. All the cats and kittens at the Orlando Cat Cafe are adoptable by the Animal League. The league is a no-kill shelter that rescues animals from county kill shelters. Each pet comes spayed or neutered, microchipped and tested for leukemia, AIDS and heartworms.

Anywhere from 12 to 15 cats are present in the cafe at any given time, and guests can book reservations online to come visit. The play area the cats are in is separate from but located right next door to the Axum Coffee cafe area for health standards. Guests also can see the cats from a viewing window between the two areas.

Although the Animal League was on board upon hearing of the idea, Cagan said it took longer to find a cafe partner. Not everyone grasped the concept immediately, she said, but they were fortunate to partner with Axum in the end.

“(Community reaction) has been really ‘paws’-itive,” Cagan said. “In October 2015, we did a sneak peek event here when it was still a big empty space, and we had a tremendous reaction back in October. Since then, it’s only grown. We had 200 reservations the first week.”

In addition to having a snack or sip of coffee with the four-legged furballs, guests also can book private events or participate in special activities alongside the cats. Activities include adult and family coloring, reading and even yoga with the cats.

“People love cats — those are probably the biggest downloadable videos, are videos of cats — and Axum Coffee has a tremendous reputation in Winter Garden, people love their coffee,” Cagan said. “It seems like a natural marriage between the two.”

Jean Maddox, who lives near Ocoee, visited the cafe on its grand-opening day.

“I like coffee, I like cats, I had a day off, so why not?” Maddox said.

“It’s like a 24/7 world, everybody’s all stressed out and have their tablets and phones in front of them all the time, but this is a quiet place you can come just to relax and destress for a little bit,” Cagan said. “To see it all come to fruition is very special. People seem very happy when they’re here.”

Contact Danielle Hendrix at [email protected].