The Cat Lounge NZ's first Cat Cafe

Based in Auckland - New Zealand’s largest city, and spread over 200+sq metres, The Cat Lounge will have modern fit-out and relaxed atmosphere. Half of our site will be run like a normal café, serving locally sourced & award winning fresh roasted espresso coffee and a range of delicious treats baked fresh in store each day.

The other half of our building will be a cat lovers dream! Big comfy couches, free wifi, fully stocked book shelves, Huge TV playing movies & the best and funniest cat clips we can find, and of course home to 10 - 15 of the cuddliest, smoochiest cats and kittens around, who we will source from rescue shelters around Auckland. The room will be filled with plenty of toys for the cats ( & People! ) cat runways & platforms on the walls, scratching posts, pillows and fluffy rugs for when there is no more energy left to play.

The welfare of our cats will be our top priority. They will live in our Café and will have regular vet checkups to make sure they are happy & healthy.The living area for the cats will be like a huge playground! They will literally be able to climb the walls, play with toys or curl up on a beanbag and snooze. The cats will also have their own space where they can get away from people if they need some peace and quiet. We will work with our local cat rescue centres to only bring suitable cats into the café - we will only take on cats that will thrive in the company of people and other cats.

For food hygiene reasons, the kitchen & café area will be kept separated from the cats rooms so all of our food and drinks will be prepared in a cat - free environment. All our food will be available for dine-in or take-away, & you will have the option to take food & drink into the cat room for your visit if you wish.

As part of giving something back to the community, we want to have special days and rates for community groups and clubs, such as seniors (Gold Card discounts) people with intellectual or physical disabilities. (We will have wheelchair accessibility) and a variety of other groups including the blind foundation, IHC & Cancer Kids to name a few. There are proven health benefits of interacting with cats.

See Link here for some health benefits:

http://mritechnicianschools.net/2010/17-health-benefits-of-owning-a-cat/

We have plenty of ideas for options for our customers and we want to make sure you get the best out of your experience with us. We will offer the following outside of our normal trading hours:

Birthdays

Movie nights

Date nights

Private functions

Club Get-togethers

Fund raising events

We can also offer catering for local businesses

What stage are we at now ?

We are in the process of securing a modern spacious building on Auckland’s North Shore, spread over 200+sq metres. We have been in talks with the local council and NZ’s leading animal welfare agencies to make sure we can go ahead without any issues, and where possible we will look to go above and beyond what is required to make sure all of our cats are comfortable.. ( read = Spoiled ! ) We would like to open July/August2015.

Who are we ?

Mike Jones & Vicky Chapman are long-time friends, and have known each other for over 10 years, We first heard of the idea of cat cafes when a friend travelled to Japan years ago & recent media coverage of cat cafes in Australia got us looking for a cat cafe in NZ we could visit, but it hadn't been done yet! So we have decided to go ahead and start our own. Between us we have business and cooking qualifications and over 20 years customer service experience. We both own cats & Yes - I would say that we are crazy cat people. We have a dream of bringing this unique experience to New Zealand.

Why we need your help ?

Opening a small business in New Zealand is no easy task. We have done a lot of the hard work already but there is still some way to go. We are putting our own money into this venture but we are also hoping to raise some donations to try and help with the high cost of opening a business.

Any donations from this campaign will go towards our fit-out and creating a great space both people & cats will enjoy, as well as getting our cats initial vet checkups & vaccinations.

*Of course there are always hidden costs & anything we raise above this amount would help us a lot.

Can I help in any other way ?

We are looking at any potential partnerships we can come to with cat food suppliers & local vets in the area. Sponsorship opportunities, we will also need a plumber, electrician and builder for the initial work in the café, if you could donate some of your time to help us out please get in touch. Likewise if anyone would like to donate any cat toys in good condition, that you no longer need, or anything you think might help please contact us.

You can also share this link on social media & help spread the word

Any help you can give us would be hugely appreciated : )