What

Hi! My name is Lori Kreisel, and I’m a cat lady (only sometimes crazy), coffee lover, and avid reader. With your help I’m going to open a cat café in the Asheville, North Carolina area.

Western North Carolina, like many other places in the US, suffers from a surplus of cats in our shelters. Half of the animals in shelters here are cats; only about 60% of those are adopted, and just 2% are reunited with their owners. Almost 20% die in care or are euthanized. Rescue organizations try to fight this sad situation by pulling cats out of shelters (and the wild) and placing them in foster homes to wait for adoption in a warm, comfortable, and safe environment.

Our café will make a small difference by housing 10-20 foster cats, all available for adoption. They will live in their own space, with both private and public rooms, where folks can make a reservation to choose one (or more!) to adopt, or just play and relax with the kitties. We look forward to hosting special events: educational and interactive events for kids, cat yoga, and book club meetings with cat facilitators.

We will also sell gently used books (reuse-recycle-reread!), lovingly crafted coffees and other drinks, delicious sweets and savory treats, cat toys and paraphernalia, and of course, gift certificates for hang time with our cats. We’d love for you to join us in our comfortable, relaxing, and inclusive space.

Who

My background is in retail (12 years in books/café management) and administrative, bookkeeping and marketing support for several small businesses. I’m a long-time resident of Asheville, and a lifelong rescue cat owner. I’ve observed the power of community-minded businesses and feel how they resonate with their customers– they can really make a huge impact and my goal is to do the same. All our lives we're told to "do what you love", and this is my way of realizing that dream. I intend to lay the groundwork to obtain a B Corp certification as soon as possible, and to always strive to make ethical and mindful business decisions.

My support team includes the following wonderful people:

• My Head Cat Wrangler, Eva, who is heavily involved with local cat rescues and foster organizations
• My Café manager, Jamie, also a professional vegan baker
• My Bookseller, Karla, lifelong reader and cat person
• My business advisors: Ed, an entrepreneur and inventor; Mountain BizWorks, an amazing local business advisory organization
• My sister and BIL, Dee & Scott, who have given marketing and emotional support
• My rescue partner organization, FurEver Friends, established in 2002

Once open, we will be accepting direct donations for our rescue partner, as well as providing space for some of their fundraisers and events. In addition, we aim to donate 1% of annual profits to a charity chosen by our staff, benefitting animal or environmental causes.

Why

Opening a café is expensive! When we add together the costs of modifying our space to accommodate the separate cat areas and the initial outlay for café equipment, fixtures, and furniture, we’re looking at around $170,000. While we hope we have been conservative in our estimates, and we will incur lower overall costs if we can find a space that needs less construction work, we are still going to need lots of support to make our dream a reality.

We are hoping to raise $25,000 in this campaign, which will cover seed money (licensing fees, initial marketing, etc.) and a portion of startup expenses to open our business.

When

We have revised our initial timeline to include additional time for seeking investors, and to account for the longer construction timeframes we are experiencing in this area. Business loans will only be sought as a last resort, not as a primary means of funding.

How

We have a number of fun perks for contributions at different levels, from honorable mentions to eco-conscious stickers, free cat reservations, waived adoption fees, and naming a signature drink after your cat. Please see the details to the right >>>>>, and thank you for whatever you can give!

We know not everyone can contribute financially, but we are grateful for any help you may give us! You can spread the word to your friends/neighbors and Facebook friends you haven’t seen since high school by sharing our campaign on your social media. The link is below, along with Cheshire Books & Cat Café links–please like us and share liberally :).

https://igg.me/at/cheshirecatcafe

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CheshireBooksCats

Instagram @cheshirebookscafe   

www.cheshirebookscafe.com