The South’s very first cat café – a cozy new spot that allows customers to take home the furry friends they make while indulging in local beverages and pastries – is the talk of downtown Charleston.
Pounce Cat Café owners Ashley Brooks and Annaliese Hughes combined their love of cats with a simple business model and made this purrfect dream a reality.
Customers can make reservations in advance for an hour of play time with the cats, order anything from the café while they’re there and can adopt any cat they fall in love with on the spot.
Giving back to the community is the mission of the café by partnering with only local organizations and giving these once-homeless cats a chance to find furrever homes.
“We joke that we have organic free range cats, we don’t ever cage them or crate them or anything. That’s their house until they get adopted,” said Brooks.
The coffee and beer are made locally by Charleston businesses, and the pastries are delivered daily from a local bakery.
Pounce is partnered with the Charleston Animal Society and fosters around 15 of their cats at a time.
The cats live in-house, free to roam and play, separate from the area food and beverages are served.
There are only 12 cat cafes in the United States – none of which are located in the South, giving Pounce a head start.
In the few months they’ve been open, Pounce has already found homes for more than 120 cats.
Cats usually stay an average of only seven to 10 days before they are adopted.
Pounce is making its customers happy with new family members while making sure these cats never have to live on the streets again.
“Finding all these cats homes is kind of the best – that makes me most proud for sure,” said Brooks.
With each play-date reservation, customers receive a complementary beverage – a unique benefit that sets Pounce apart from its competitors.
The café keeps bringing people in the door by planning special events such as Cat Yoga and Cat People Speed Dating to keep adoptions flowing as well.
Pounce is very active on social media to let customers know about events coming up and to give sneak peeks of the cats that are currently being fostered.
The café’s environment is upbeat yet cozy and the friendly staff makes all the difference in the world.
The feedback so far has been extremely positive, and the business continues to thrive. These cat lovers hope to continue their success by eventually expanding to more locations throughout the South.
“When we look at our reviews,” Hughes says, “people talk about three things – cats, great customer service and beer.”
by Bailey Laskowski
CougarBuzz 