Lee's first cat cafe opens
You can’t buy a mocha, a mimosa or a caffé Americano at the new Cattyshack Cafe. They’re not on the menu.
But here’s what you can get: A meow-cha, a meow-mosa and a caffé Ameri-gato.
They’re the same drinks, of course — just with a kitty-cat spin.
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Amber Redfern and Andrew Townsend opened the Cattyshack Cafe in the Gulf Coast Town Center. It offers a coffee shop-style cafe with beverages and food. In an adjacent room that's divided from the cafe with windows and doors is the cat room with kittens and cats that are available for adoption through the Gulf Coast Humane Society.
In fact, almost everything at the Gulf Coast Town Center cafe has a cat theme (and a golf theme, too). There’s cat-shaped food. A cat-sized golf cart with a scratch-able steering wheel. Even a bathroom sign urging visitors to “PLEASE WASH YOUR PAWS.”
And then there’s the main attraction: A room-full of cats where visitors can hang out and sip coffee for 50 minutes.
It’s Lee County’s first cat cafe.
“We’re excited,” says Andrew Townsend, who owns the new cafe with fiancee Amber Redfern. “We’re just happy to finally be able to bring this to Fort Myers.”
There are more than 100 cat cafes in the United States, Amber says, but none of them are in Southwest Florida. Planet Tails in Naples closed several years ago.
Cattyshack had been tentatively scheduled to open in January, but permitting delays and the coronavirus kept pushing back opening day. That didn’t stop curious cat lovers from peering through the cafe windows, though — or sometimes just walking right in.
“People are just walking in off the streets,” Amber said before opening day in June. “It’s obvious that we’re not open, but people walk in and they’re just so excited.
“They’re just so passionate. And to give those people an outlet and something to support in this scary time, it makes us feel good. And it’s good for the community as a whole.”
Like other cat cafes, Cattyshack lets visitors drink coffee and eat while spending time with free-roaming cats (no cages). If the cats get stressed, they can flee through a small, cat-shaped door into a neighboring “escape room” that’s inaccessible to guests. That’s where the cats can use the litter boxes, eat, nap or just relax.
You can even adopt one of the cats, if you want. They all come straight from the Gulf Coast Humane Society.
The timing is perfect, says the humane society’s executive director, Jennifer Galloway. It’s kitten season in Southwest Florida, and Cattyshack is another way to find homes for those new kittens.
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The cats and kittens at Cattyshack Cafe in the Gulf Coast Town Center are available for adoption through the Gulf Coast Humane Society.
“Their success is our success,” she says. “Because the more successful they are, the more adoptions we’ll have. And we’ll be able to spread our message.”
Jennifer says she’s excited about the partnership with the cafe.
“I think it’s an awesome concept,” she says. “It’s going to be fun for people.”
To gather research for their new business, the couple visited 20 cat cafes in six states and saw what worked and what didn’t work. Then they put those lessons to use in Cattyshack.
The 2,100-square-foot cafe is divided into two rooms: The main cafe on one side, where people order their food and drinks; and a cat room called The Mulligan Room where 15 to 20 cats can lounge and frolic on catwalks, cat furniture and a putting green shaped like a paw.
For a $15 fee, people can take their coffee and food into the room for about 50 minutes and hang out with the kitties. Reservations are required.
“It’s a relaxing, calming environment,” Amber told The News-Press last year. “The cats are fun, and there’s toys and you can interact with them.”
The couple wanted everything in their new cafe to be fun and memorable. That includes free-roaming cats in The Mulligan Room and cat-friendly décor with climbable palm trees, cat-themed books in a bookcase and a stuffed cat named Maudie on the “roof” of a faux clubhouse.
There’s always something to look at.
“Whenever people come here,” Andrew says, “we want them to want to take a photo.”
The cafe’s golf theme comes from Andrew’s love of the Chevy Chase movie “Caddyshack.”
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched it,” he told The News-Press last year. “And we both golf. We’re not the best …”
The cafe sells coffee, beer and wine (including a full espresso bar), grab-and-go foods such as grilled cheese sandwiches and pasta salad, and specialty drinks such as their “cereal milk lattes”— lattes made from milk that’s been soaking in Cap’n Crunch, Frosted Flakes and other breakfast cereals. The freshly roasted beans come from Fort Myers company Chocolatte’s Coffee and Roasting.
The various coffee drinks have cat-themed names, such as The Tabby, The Calico, The Tuxedo and a soothing lavender latte called The Cat Nap.
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Andrew Townsend, one of the creators of Cattyshack Cafe in the Gulf Coast Town Center, watches as kittens play in their new space.
To keep things hygienic, separate air-conditioner systems prevent the “cat air” in The Mulligan Room from mixing with the cafe air, Andrew says. Plus there’s an airlock-like vestibule between the two rooms.
Owning a cafe is an all-new adventure for the couple, who are both longtime animal lovers. Andrew is a former professional poker player who later earned a business management degree from Florida Gulf Coast University. Amber is the bursar at Florida SouthWestern State College in Fort Myers — a job she says she’ll maintain.
They’ve signed a five-year lease in the former Fresh Planet Cafe at Gulf Coast Town Center, near The Cigar Bar and Outback.
Amber and Andrew eventually plan to hold special events at the cafe, including cat yoga, cat crafts and painting with cats. The room will be available for group rentals, too.
Cattyshack Cafe is at 9902 Gulf Coast Main St., Suite D-140, in Gulf Coast Town Center, near Outback, Sport Clips and The Cigar Bar. To learn more, visit facebook.com/CattyshackCafe or cattyshackcafe.com.
Charles Runnells writes for The News-Press, part of the USA Today Network. Connect with Charles at Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter), @crunnells1 (Instagram).
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