The Age-Old Dilemma of Love and Money
Updated: May 8, 2020
BY Neo Rui Qin (Rachael)
Anyone who steps into Café Pets will be taken aback. Literally. The pungency the cat café leaves its first-time visitors outside gasping for fresh air, afraid to enter again. Even wearing a mask doesn’t help. The smell of cat vomit mixed with stale air, which stubbornly refuses to dissipate, makes noses run just five minutes into entering the café.
But for cat lovers, this is heaven. Customers sit on chairs – with its legs wrapped in rattan for the cats to scratch – either feeding Ragdolls or petting British Shorthairs on their lap. Some even bring their laptops to Café Pets, enjoying the companionship of over 30 cats in a space smaller than 30 square meters.
Here, Café Pets offers a wide variety of beverages from fruit teas to lattes and light finger food for the customers that visit. By just purchasing a beverage, customers can enjoy an entire afternoon of undisturbed cat interaction for just 30 yuan.
This inexpensive cat heaven is run by Feifei Li, affectionately known by her customers as Fei’er. Surprisingly, this was not the first business-related to animals that she ran. In 2017, she decided to quit her job in advertising to take over her family pet shop. The shop provides pet salon services and sells different breeds of cats and dogs.
In fact, Fei’er started the cat café because she wanted to find a place for her cats to exercise. Although her main source of income comes from cat sales, she “does not bear” to see the cats locked up in cages. To provide cats with “more freedom and better quality” to interested buyers, she rented the neighboring space to start this cat cafe.
Two years into the business, she admits that reaping profits from the café is challenging for her. Now, she struggles to break even as she tries to balance the welfare of her cats and customers.
Vaccination takes up a large part of what she spends. Not only does it prevent illnesses, but vaccines also ensure the safety of the customers if they are scratched by her cats. Cats require two vaccines for their immunity and the third vaccine is administered for rabies prevention.
To save on costs, she buys vaccines in bulk from a friend working in a pet hospital. This way, she spends only 600 yuan each year, saving up to half the amount. Doing this is a matter of survival because she has a total of 100 cats in the café, her pet shop and at her home.
On the weekends, the little space painted rainbow-sprinkle pink and purple welcomes more people than usual. Other than the usual crowd of university students, some parents also bring their children for a relaxing afternoon with cats.
On busy days like that, she insists on staying in the café because some children are reckless with the cats. When that happens, she reminds the children to be careful with them. “The kids don’t hurt the cats on purpose, but you have to teach them how to carry and touch them gently,” she said.
Of course, not all of her efforts are not always appreciated. Customers often complain that the bronze chairs with rattan wrapped legs are not comfortable enough. They grumble about the cat smell in the air. They want a more Instagram-friendly environment to play with the cats.
But these cat-loving customers must make do with peeling pink and purple walls filled with do-it-yourself cat wallpaper stickers for now.
“I just finished renovations, but you can see their destructiveness,” said the 30-year-old lady pointing to peeling wallpapers, “I can’t put in cushions, sofas or any comfortable chairs.”
She keeps prices low with beverages as cheap as 15 yuan with no minimum spending required to retain university students. But rent has doubled in October 2019, making her business unsustainable.
Fei’er now has plans to transfer the space to someone else. She is looking to move her business near Drum Tower in the Chaoyang district although she might lose a big part of her regular customers.
She is determined to keep the café operating as a sanctuary for her cats, even if it means involving her family. Her husband runs the pet and café business together with her, creating latte art or blended beverages for the customers.
While he contributes to the business, he feels obliged to support his wife’s interest. Ever since they met, Fei’er has been in the pet business. Now that she is passionate about cat cafés, he feels that he should support it even though it is not profitable.
Watch a documentary co-produced by one of our team members, where she did an in-depth interview with Feifei Li.
“To me, there are no challenges in running the business. I will do my best to provide good conditions for both customers and cats. And all I wish for is for customers to enjoy their time with cats,” said Fei’er.
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