New Brunswick’s First Cat Cafe In Building Phase
FREDERICTON – The details are coming together for New Brunswick’s first cat cafe: a spot where visitors will be able to experience the comfort of a traditional cafe with the added bonus of fluffy feline friends.
After first announcing the plans last year, The Purrfect Cup – A Cat Cafe owner and founder Korey Jennings has secured a location on the city’s Northside at 580 Two Nations Crossing. He says the cafe will be a great addition to an area of the city that doesn’t yet have many local cafes.
“My plan was to find a place downtown because that was kind of the natural place you want to go but it ended up making a lot more sense from a financial perspective because rent is fairly expensive downtown… and I needed certain things in the space to fulfill the vision,” Jennings says.
With cat cafes still being a relatively new concept in Canada and completely unexplored in New Brunswick, Jennings says there have been some logistical hoops to jump through. To establish this type of business, he needed both permission from the landlord and from the city to fulfill zoning requirements.
“This building I’m in is a new development and they’re looking to fill it up so they were quite supportive of hosting it. They’ve treated me very well so far,” Jennings says.
The cat cafe is now in the building stage, with only a license from the province’s Department of Health left to secure.
With two separate areas in the space, the cafe and the cat lounge, the business is meant to be welcoming to customers who both want to interact with the cats or just sit and have a coffee. The areas will be separated by a large window, allowing visitors who don’t necessarily want to interact with the cats to still have a peek.
Jennings says while there is no official agreement yet, they are in talks with the Fredericton SPCA and CARMA Cat Rescue Maritimes Fredericton Chapter to populate the cat lounge.
“The biggest thing people ask is ‘do you bring your own cats?’ No, you don’t bring your own cats. The cats live there and are adoptable rescue cats,” he says.
The cat cafe is also partnering with downtown Fredericton’s Chess Piece Pâtisserie & Cafe to offer a selection of locally made pastries.
Jennings is currently aiming to open the cafe to the public in September to coincide with the back to school season.