On July 27, 2020, the Orlando Cat Café re-opened its Cat Play/Adoption Area with new COVID-19 safety procedures and a new café partner, Minch Coffee Company. While the café remained open, the Cat Play/Adoption Area closed per Governor DeSantis’s Executive Order on March 20th. “At the time the Executive Order was issued, we had 17 cats in residence, and we were able to find foster families for all our cats so they did not need to go back to the shelter. Of those, 13 cats were permanently adopted by their foster families,” said Jessica Whitehouse, Director of Community Purr-lations. Since re-opening, the Orlando Cat Café had a record first week back with 19 cats finding their forever home in just the first seven days.
New Orlando Cat Café protocols include requiring that masks are worn at all time (except while eating and for children under 2 years of age), limited seating capacity, temperature checks, social distancing, and enhanced cleaning and sanitation. “We worked very hard to put policies and procedures in place and we are confident that they will keep our team members, guests and cats safe,” said owner and founder Sandra Cagan. “We are very pleased with the feedback that we are receiving from our guests who seem to really appreciate all of the changes we made designed to keep everyone safe.”
In July, a new café partner joined the Orlando Cat Café. Minch Coffee Company has taken the place of Axum Coffee, the cafe’s original partners. Suzanne and Mathias Bernal were co-founders of Axum Coffee and worked for the company since 2009 before deciding to embark on a new solo venture. “Minch was named after the city of Arba Minch, Ethiopia and is the home of two of the best coffees in the world, Yirgacheffe and Sidamo,” explained Suzanne Bernal.
Given Minch’s unique partnership with the Orlando Cat Café, the coffeehouse is serving cat-themed fare, such as macarons and cupcakes as well as fun drinks such as the Black Cat Mocha and KiTea Latte. “We are thrilled to be working with both Suzanne and Mathias again,” said Sandra Cagan.
Since opening in September of 2016, the Orlando Cat Café has welcomed over 70,000 guests and adopted 857 cats and kittens to their forever homes. The Orlando Cat Café is located at 532 Cagan Park Avenue in the Cagan Crossings Town Center, about 4 miles west of Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made at www.orlandocatcafe.com and new policies can be viewed at www.orlandocatcafe.com/reopening/
