Editor’s note: This article was first published in September 2013. It reports news from that time: the first cat café in Madrid was about to open, three more were expected that autumn in Paris, London and Madrid, and Vienna was described as the first European city with one. Cat cafés have since become common in Europe.
Cat cafés are very popular in Japan. In them you can have a coffee (or any other drink) surrounded by these friendly felines. According to Gattoh.com, a website specializing in all things cat, the first cat café in Madrid (Spain) is about to open. Vienna was the first European city to open this kind of establishment, followed by others in the United Kingdom, Hungary and Germany. This autumn of 2013 will probably see three more appear in the capitals of France, the United Kingdom and Spain.
In Japan, by contrast, cat cafés are already quite widespread and part of the culture.
According to the same website, in France there were problems with animal protection groups, who objected to the cats being used merely as a source of profit and entertainment. But really, when an entrepreneur opens this kind of business it’s because 1) they love animals (cats in particular) and 2) the business is aimed at customers who love animals (cats in particular).
(Read: 6 fascinating business ideas that originated in Asia)
Of course, this business idea could be expanded with other initiatives from the East, where cats aren’t just part of a café’s furniture: they are also used in therapy for stressed people, thanks to how relaxing these animals are.
These kinds of venues, still innovative in many countries for now, can be profitable businesses if they are well focused and promoted, although how well the public would take to them remains an open question.
Here is one of Japan’s small cat cafés:
Watch: A small cat café in Japan
There is still room for innovation in the hospitality business. See: The 9 most innovative restaurants and 5 original food business ideas.
For everything else, we’ll always have a nice “relaxing cup of café con leche in Plaza Mayor” (the phrase Madrid’s mayor, Ana Botella, used in the city’s 2020 Olympic bid presentation), which has already given some of the sharpest entrepreneurs a few ideas: a young woman has applied to register the expression, and it has also become a Facebook game. And a shop in Valencia has started selling mugs printed with “Relaxing cup of Café con Leche”.
Featured image: Grendelkhan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
