Cat Café Business Plan [Sample Template]

Do you want to start a cat cafe and need to write a plan? If YES, here is a detailed sample cat cafe business plan template & FREE feasibility report.

If you are considering starting a business that is just gaining grounds In the united states, then you should consider opening a cat café in your city.

A Sample Cat Cafe Business Plan Template

1. Industry Overview

A cat café is a theme café whose attraction is mainly cats. Patrons pay a cover fee, generally hourly, and thus cat cafés can be seen as a form of supervised indoor pet rental. “Cat café” has been officially recognized in the online edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English since August 2015.

You will notice that cat cafés have been spreading across North America especially since 2014. The goal in North America generally is to help get cats adopted by partnering with local cat cum animal rescue companies.

A close watch of happenings in this industry shows that the Cat Cafés industry has been sustained by increased consumer spending, which was driven by higher disposable incomes and greater confidence in the economic outlook.

Demand for cat café services has increased at a faster rate than most segments of the recreational service sector, as consumers increasingly seek convenience at an affordable price. Major operators are expected to expand their services and product offerings in the nearest future to increase sales and profit margins.

In the united states, most health departments require special steps to separate the cafe area from area where the cats are housed. In some cases, this even extends to areas that cats pass through only briefly (e.g. an adopted cat must leave through a separate door without passing an area that prepares food).

The Cat Cafés industry has minimal barriers to entry, with low startup capital and no specific licensing requirements but gaining regulatory approval can be difficult. These timelines highlight not only the regulatory hurdles for cat cafes that prepare food on premises, but also differences between local governments that are mere miles from one another.

Interestingly, there are currently 72 cat cafes in the United States, 44 of which have opened in the past year. Most players in the cat café line of business are small to medium sized establishments that cater to the local community.

The cat café industry is a profitable industry and it is open for any aspiring entrepreneur to come in and establish his or her business; you can choose to start on a small scale in a street corner like the average mom and pop business or you can choose to start on a large scale with several outlets (franchises) in key cities across the United States of America.

2. Executive Summary

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is a licensed cat café business that will be located along one of the coziest areas in New Haven – Connecticut.

We have been able to lease a facility along a major road that can fit into the kind of cat café we intend launching and the facility is located in a corner piece property directly opposite the largest residential estate in New Haven – Connecticut.

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC will be involved in making available cats that can be watched and played with and we will ensure that there will be approximately 12-15 cats and kittens in the Cat Play Area at any given time, all available for adoption.

As a standard cat café, with license to serve food and drinks, we will be involved in preparing and serving specialty snacks and nonalcoholic beverages including ice cream, frozen yogurt, cookies, donuts, bagels, coffee, juices, smoothies and sodas et al.

We know that that there are several cat cafés and related businesses all around New Haven – Connecticut which is why we spent time and resources to conduct our feasibility studies and market survey so as to offer much more than our competitors will be offering.

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC will at all times demonstrate her commitment to sustainability, both individually and as a firm, by actively participating in our communities and integrating sustainable business practices wherever possible. We will ensure that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest standards by meeting our client’s needs precisely and completely.

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is owned by Mrs. Cheryl Philips and her immediate family members. Mrs. Cheryl Philips is a pet lover, she has a B.Sc. in Animal Science and a Diploma in Business Administration, with over 10 years’ experience in the Pet Grooming and Boarding industry, working for some of the leading brands in the United States.

Although the business is launching out with just one outlet in New Haven – Connecticut, but there is a plan to open other outlets all around Connecticut and in other key cities in the United States of America.

3. Our Products and Services

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is in the cat cafés industry to make profits and we will ensure we make available a wide variety of services as it relates to cat cafes and also snacks and nonalcoholic drinks to our clients. We are well prepared to make profits from the industry and we will do all that is permitted by the law in the United States to achieve our business goals, aim and ambition. Our product and service offerings are listed below;

Make available cats that can be watched and played with and we will ensure that there will be approximately 12-15 cats and kittens in the Cat Play Area at any given time
Cat adoption services
Sale of snack foods such as potato and corn chips, pretzels, roasted and salted nuts, nut butters, popcorn and other similar snacks
Sale of coffee, soft drinks and water.

4. Our Mission and Vision Statement

Our vision is to become the leading cat café – brand in New Haven – Connecticut and to establish a one stop cat café in New Haven – Connecticut that will become a melting pot for cat lovers.
Our mission is to establish a cat café business that will offer wide varieties of services as it relates to cat cafés and also make available a wide variety of snacks and nonalcoholic drinks at affordable prices.

Our Business Structure

Our intention of starting a cat café business is to build a standard cat café in New Haven – Connecticut. We will ensure that we put the right structures in place that will support the kind of growth that we have in mind while setting up the business.

We will ensure that we hire people that are qualified, honest, customer centric and are ready to work to help us build a prosperous business that will benefit all the stake holders.

As a matter of fact, profit-sharing arrangement will be made available to all our senior management staff and it will be based on their performance for a period of ten years or more In view of that, we have decided to hire qualified and competent hands to occupy the following positions;

Chief Executive Officer (Owner)
Cat Café Manager
Human Resources and Admin Manager
Cat Handlers/Cat Trainers
Snack Markers
Sales and Marketing Manager
Accountants/Cashiers
Waiters/Waitress
Cleaners

5. Job Roles and Responsibilities

Chief Executive Officer – CEO (Owner):

Increases management’s effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, and disciplining managers; communicating values, strategies, and objectives; assigning accountabilities; planning, monitoring, and appraising job results
Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
Responsible for fixing prices and signing business deals
Responsible for providing direction for the business
Creating, communicating, and implementing the organization’s vision, mission, and overall direction – i.e. leading the development and implementation of the overall organization’s strategy.
Responsible for signing checks and documents on behalf of the company
Evaluates the success of the organization
Reports to the board

Admin and HR Manager

Responsible for overseeing the smooth running of HR and administrative tasks for the organization
Maintains office supplies by checking stocks; placing and expediting orders; evaluating new products.
Ensures operation of equipment by completing preventive maintenance requirements; calling for repairs.
Defining job positions for recruitment and managing interviewing process
Carrying out induction for new team members
Responsible for training, evaluation and assessment of employees
Responsible for arranging travel, meetings and appointments
Oversee the smooth running of the daily office activities.

Cat Café Manager:

Responsible for managing the daily activities in the cat café
Ensure that the bar facility is in tip top shape and conducive enough to welcome customers
Interfaces with third – party providers (vendors) and people who want to adopt cats
Reports to the Chief Executive Officer
Attends to Customers complains and enquiries
Prepares budget and reports for the organization
Any other duty as assigned by the CEO

Snack Makers

Make snack foods such as potato and corn chips, pretzels, roasted and salted nuts, nut butters, popcorn and other similar snacks as supervised by the kitchen supervisor
Responsible for carrying out all casual or unskilled jobs in the bar and kitchen
Responsible for packaging snacks meant for delivery
Handles any other duty as assigned by the cat café manager

Sales and Marketing Manager

Manage external research and coordinate all the internal sources of information to retain the organizations’ best customers and attract new ones
Model demographic information and analyze the volumes of transactional data generated by customer purchases
Identify, prioritize, and reach out to new partners, and business opportunities et al
Identifies development opportunities; follows up on development leads and contacts
Responsible for supervising implementation, advocate for the customer’s needs, and communicate with clients
Document all customer contact and information
Represent the company in strategic meetings
Help increase sales and growth for the company

Cat Handlers/Cat Trainers

Handles general cat sitting and grooming services
Responsible for operating cat shelters
Responsible for boarding cats
Evaluates and document the progress of cats under his or her care
Receive complaints from clients and channel it to the appropriate quarters
Handle any other duty as assigned by the HR and Admin Manager.

Accountant/Cashier:

Responsible for preparing financial reports, budgets, and financial statements for the organization
Provides managements with financial analyses, development budgets, and accounting reports
Responsible for financial forecasting and risks analysis.
Performs cash management, general ledger accounting, and financial reporting
Responsible for developing and managing financial systems and policies
Responsible for administering payrolls
Ensuring compliance with taxation legislation
Handles all financial transactions for the organization
Serves as internal auditor for the organization

Waiters/Waitress:

Promptly attends to customers in a friendly and professional manner
Ensures that un-occupied tables are always set and ready for customers
Pulls out chairs for customers as they arrive
Handle any other duty as assigned by the Chief Operating officer / Café manager

Cleaners:

Responsible for cleaning the café facility at all times
Ensure that toiletries and supplies don’t run out of stock
Handle any other duty as assigned by the café manager.

6. SWOT Analysis

Our plan of starting with just one outlet of our cat café in New Haven – Connecticut is to test run the business for a period of 3 to 5 years to know if we will invest more money, expand the business and then open other outlets all over Connecticut and key cities in the United States.

We are quite aware of the importance of following due process of establishing a business. We know that if a proper SWOT analysis is conducted for our business, we will be able to position our business to maximize our strength, leverage on the opportunities that will be available to us, mitigate our risks and be equipped to confront our threats.

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC employed the services of an expert HR and Business Analyst with bias in cat café line of business to help us conduct a thorough SWOT analysis and to help us create a Business model that will help us achieve our business goals and objectives. This is the summary of the SWOT analysis that was conducted for Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC;

Strength:

Our location, the business model we will be operating on, varieties of payment options, wide varieties of snacks and nonalcoholic drinks and our excellent customer service culture will definitely count as a strong strength for Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC. So also, we have a management team that has what it takes to grow a new business to profitability within a record time.

Weakness:

A major weakness that may count against us is the fact that we are a new cat café – business and we don’t have the financial capacity to pump into the publicity of the business since it is still a Green business in the United States of America.

Opportunities:

The opportunities available to a business like ours are massive because some people want the comfort and companionship of a kitty, plus cats have been proven to have many health benefits for their owners, like lowering stress levels as well as blood pressure.

A cat cafe provides the option to get all the benefits of a cat without actually having one. The fact that we are going to be operating our cat café in one of the busiest streets in New Haven – Connecticut, provides us with unlimited opportunities.

Threat:

Just like any other business, one of the major threats that we are likely going to face is economic downturn. It is a fact that economic downturn affects purchasing/spending power. Another threat that may likely confront us is the arrival of a new cat café in same location where ours is located.

7. MARKET ANALYSIS

Market Trends

One of the obvious trends in the cat café industry is that the industry has experienced a boost by rebounds in consumer spending. The industry’s pretty low level of competition is expected to intensify in the coming years.

In this era when the online community is growing rapidly, you would do your cat café business a whole lot of favor if you create your own online presence. One of the easiest ways to get people to see you as an expert in your line of business is to blog constantly about the benefits of cat cafés.

You may also want to leverage on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and others to publicize your cat café. You can as well go ahead to open an online cat café where people can adopt cats from your café. You must ensure that your delivery system (shipping) is efficient if you intend to do well with your online adoption model.

In keeping consumers’ appetites satisfied, cat cafés have created new menu options that capitalize on the increasing awareness of the health risks associated with a high-fat diet. The industry has also thrived by developing products at price points attractive enough to weather the slow recovery, resulting in strong revenue growth.

8. Our Target Market

We have positioned our cat café to service the residents of New Haven – Connecticut. We have conducted our market research and we have ideas of what our target market would be expecting from us. We are in business to offer our services and retail wide varieties of snacks and nonalcoholic drinks in our cat café to the following groups of people;

Cat lovers
Residents
Students
Tourists
Pet Rescue Companies (B2B, for the purpose of adopting cats from them)

Our competitive advantage

The fact that we have a clear market position, effective cost controls and ability to franchise operations gives us competitive advantage over our competitors.

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is launching a standard cat café that will indeed become the preferred choice of residents of New Haven – Connecticut. Our cat café is located in a corner piece property on a cozy environment directly opposite one of the largest residential estates in New Haven – Connecticut.

We will ensure that we have wide varieties of snacks and nonalcoholic drinks available in our cat café at all times. It will be difficult for customers to visit our café and not make a purchase of snacks, coffee or soft drinks. Our excellent customer service culture, online cat adoption option, various payment options and highly secured facility will serve as a competitive advantage for us.

Lastly, our employees will be well taken care of, and their welfare package will be among the best within our category in the industry, meaning that they will be more than willing to build the business with us and help deliver our set goals and achieve all our aims and objectives.

9. SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGY

Sources of Income

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is in business to retail a wide variety of snacks and nonalcoholic drinks to the residents of New Haven – Connecticut. Our source of income will be;

Make available cats that can be watched and played with and we will ensure that there will be approximately 12-15 cats and kittens in the Cat Play Area at any given time
Cat adoption services
Sale of snack foods such as potato and corn chips, pretzels, roasted and salted nuts, nut butters, popcorn and other similar snacks
Sale of coffee, soft Drinks and water.

10. Sales Forecast

One thing is certain when it comes to cat café business, if your café is centrally positioned, you will always attract customers cum sales and that will sure translate to increase in revenue generation for the business.

We are well positioned to take on the available market in New Haven – Connecticut and we are quite optimistic that we will meet our set target of generating enough income/profits from the first six months of operation and grow the business and our clientele base.

We have been able to examine the cat café industry and we have analyzed our chances in the industry and we have been able to come up with the following sales forecast. Below are the sales projections for Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC, it is based on the location of our business and other factors as it relates to snack and coffee shops startups in the United States;

First Fiscal Year (FY1): $220,000
Second Fiscal Year (FY2): $350,000
Third Fiscal Year (FY3): $450,000

N.B: This projection was done based on what is obtainable in the industry and with the assumption that there won’t be any major economic meltdown and there won’t be any major competitor offering same products and customer care services as we do within same location. Please note that the above projection might be lower and at the same time it might be higher.

Marketing Strategy and Sales Strategy

Before choosing a location for Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC, we conducted a thorough market survey and feasibility studies in order for us to be able to penetrate the available market and become the preferred choice for residents of New Haven – Connecticut. We have detailed information and data that we were able to utilize to structure our business to attract the number of customers we want to attract per time.

We hired experts who have good understanding of the cat café industry to help us develop marketing strategies that will help us achieve our business goal of winning a larger percentage of the available market in New Haven – Connecticut.

In summary, Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC will adopt the following sales and marketing approach to win customers over;

Open our cat café in a grand style with a party for all.
Introduce our cat café business by sending introductory letters alongside our brochure to corporate organizations, schools, event planners, households and key stake holders in New Haven – Connecticut
Ensure that we make wide varieties of snacks, coffee and nonalcoholic drinks in our bar at all times.
Make use of attractive hand bills to create awareness and also to give direction to our cat café
Position our signage/flexi banners at strategic places all around New Haven – Connecticut
Position our greeters to welcome and direct potential customers
Create a loyalty plan that will enable us reward our regular customers

11. Publicity and Advertising Strategy

Despite the fact that our cat café is located in an ideal location with the right demography of cat lovers, we will still go ahead to intensify publicity for the business.

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC has a long – term plan of opening chains of cat cafés in various locations all around Connecticut and key cities in the United States which is why we will deliberately build our brand to be well accepted in New Haven before venturing out.

Here are the platforms we intend leveraging on to promote and advertise Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC;

Place adverts on community based newspapers, radio and TV stations.
Encourage the use of word of mouth publicity from our loyal customers
Leverage on the internet and social media platforms like; YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Google+ and other platforms to promote our business.
Ensure that our we position our banners and billboards in strategic positions all around New Haven – Connecticut
Distribute our fliers and handbills in target areas in and around our neighborhood

Advertise Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC business in our official website and employ strategies that will help us pull traffic to the site
Brand all our official cars and delivery vans and ensure that all our staff members and management staff wear our branded shirt or cap at regular intervals.

12. Our Pricing Strategy

When a cat café is located in a popular area, the business can bring in significant revenue. Even at $7 per person, just 10 visitors can generate $70 in an hour. At $20 per hour, the revenue increases to $200 per hour with 10 visitors.

In view of the above, the prices of our services (access fee), food and other alcoholic drinks et al will be what is obtainable in the market. In fact, we will try as much as we can to sell below the industry’s average so as to attract loads of customers. We also have plans in place to discount our products once in a while and also to reward our loyal customers.

Payment Options

The payment policy adopted by Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is all inclusive because we are quite aware that different customers prefer different payment options as it suits them but at the same time, we will ensure that we abide by the financial rules and regulation of the United States of America.

Here are the payment options that Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC will make available to her clients;

Payment via bank transfer
Payment with cash
Payment via credit cards
Payment via online bank transfer
Payment via check
Payment via mobile money transfer

In view of the above, we have chosen banking platforms that will enable our client make payment for access fee and for snacks and nonalcoholic drinks purchase without any stress on their part. Our bank account numbers will be made available on our website and promotional materials.

13. Startup Expenditure (Budget)

These are the key areas where we will spend our startup capital;

The total fee for registering the business in the United States of America – $750.
Legal expenses for obtaining licenses and permits as well as the accounting services (software, P.O.S machines and other software) – $1,300.
Marketing promotion expenses for the grand opening of Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC in the amount of $3,500 and as well as flyer printing (2,000 flyers at $0.04 per copy) for the total amount of – $3,580.
The cost for hiring Business Consultant (business plan inclusive) – $2,500.
The cost for insurance (general liability, animal mortality insurance, workers’ compensation and property casualty) coverage at a total premium – $2,400.
The cost for payment of rent for 12 months at $1.76 per square feet in the total amount of $75,600.
The cost for construction of a standard cat café and kitchen – $30,000.
Other start-up expenses including stationery ($500) and phone and utility deposits ($2,500).
Operational cost for the first 3 months (salaries of employees, payments of bills et al) – $40,000
The cost for start-up inventory (supply of cats, pet food and medications, coffee, sodas, bottled water, flours, sugar, butter and other snacks making ingredients and packaging materials et al) – $40,000
Storage hardware (bins, rack, shelves, food case) – $3,720
The cost for counter area equipment (counter top, sink, ice machine, etc.) – $9,500
The cost for store equipment (cash register, security, ventilation, signage) – $3,750
The cost for the purchase of furniture and gadgets (Computers, Printers, Telephone, TVs, Sound System, tables and chairs et al) – $4,000.
The cost of launching a website – $600
The cost for our opening party – $2,000
Miscellaneous – $5,000

We would need an estimate of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) to successfully set up our cat café in the United States of America. Please note that this amount includes the salaries of our staff for the first month of operation.

Generating Funds/Startup Capital for Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC

Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is a family business that is solely owned and financed by Mrs. Cheryl Philips. They do not intend to welcome any external business partners which is why she has decided to restrict the sourcing of the startup capital to 3 major sources.

Generate part of the startup capital from personal savings
Source for soft loans from family members and friends
Apply for loan from the Bank

N.B: We have been able to generate about $100,000 (Personal savings $80,000 and soft loan from family members $20,000) and we are at the final stages of obtaining a loan facility of $150,000 from our bank. All the papers and documents have been signed and submitted, the loan has been approved and any moment from now our account will be credited with the amount.

14. Sustainability and Expansion Strategy

Part of the plans we have in place to sustain Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC is to ensure that we continue to make available a wide range of snacks and smoothies and juices et al, deliver quality services, and improvise on how to do things faster and cheaper.

We are not going to relent in providing conducive environment for our workers and also the required trainings that will help them deliver excellent services at all times. Another factor that kills new businesses is financial leakages. In order to plug financial leakages, the management of Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC adopt the use of payment machine and accounting software to run the business.

We are quite aware that our customers are key component to the growth and survival of our business hence we are going to continuously engage them to give us ideas on how to serve them better and the menu and services they want to see in our cat café.

We will not waste time in adopting new technology, best practices and diversifying our services; expand our product and service offerings once the need arises. Cheryl Philips® Cat Café, LLC will make sure that the right foundation, structures and processes are put in place to ensure that our staff welfare are well taken of.

Our company’s corporate culture is designed to drive our business to greater heights and training and retraining of our workforce is at the top burner. We know that if that is put in place, we will be able to successfully hire and retain the best hands we can get in the industry; they will be more committed to help us build the business of our dreams.

Check List/Milestone

Business Name Availability Check: Completed
Business Registration: Completed
Opening of Corporate Bank Accounts: Completed
Securing Point of Sales (POS) Machines: Completed
Opening Mobile Money Accounts: Completed
Opening Online Payment Platforms: Completed
Application and Obtaining Tax Payer’s ID: In Progress
Application for business license and permit: Completed
Purchase of Insurance for the Business: Completed
Leasing of facility and remodeling the facility to fit into a standard cat café: In Progress
Conducting Feasibility Studies: Completed
Generating capital from family members: Completed
Applications for Loan from the bank: In Progress
Writing of Business Plan: Completed
Drafting of Employee’s Handbook: Completed
Drafting of Contract Documents and other relevant Legal Documents: In Progress
Design of The Company’s Logo: Completed
Printing of Promotional Materials: In Progress
Recruitment of employees: In Progress
Purchase of the needed furniture, racks, shelves, computers, electronic appliances, office appliances and CCTV: In progress
Creating Official Website for the Company: In Progress
Creating Awareness for the business both online and around the community: In Progress
Health and Safety and Fire Safety Arrangement (License): Secured
Opening party/launching party planning: In Progress
Compilation of our list of products that will be available in our shop: Completed
Establishing business relationship with vendors – suppliers of flours / breads, meat, ingredients, coffees and soft drinks: In Progress