Welfare is The Top Priority, Not Costs
BY Isabelle Anastasia Tan
It might not be too much to say consumers are becoming more responsible. In an era characterized by a constant chase of comfort, luxury, customers are increasingly aware of the consequences of their actions. From sustainable fashion, sustainable travel and now, the well-being of cats in cat cafés.
This can be seen from the emergence of the rise of the second wave of cat cafes, most prominently, Maohegong cat café and Mocha cat café. As the top two cafés on the Dazhongpianping mobile application, these two cafes have achieved top rankings online, allowing them to gain further publicity and a continuous flow of customers.
These popular cat cafes are those that prioritize the well-being of cats. These include proper sanitization, proper frequent rest for these animals, and a well-maintained environment where cats can live to their greatest degree of comfort. Customers can then enjoy their visits to the cat café without making it a guilty pleasure, all thanks to the owners of these cafés placing the cats’ welfare as their utmost priority. Despite having to incur extra costs, these owners believe in a sustainable business model with no compromises made on the welfare of these furry friends.
Maohegong Café
We met with Zhou, the owner of Maohegong at his newly furbished cat haven located on the second floor of a shophouse. He talked about how animals are “your next best friend” and also “great listeners”. It was not difficult to feel his passion for these furry friends through the conversation.
“When I first came to Beijing, I realized that there were a lot of people like me – alone and lonely in this big city. We have all moved over from our hometowns and hardly knew anyone since the people we grew up with are all now hundreds of kilometers away. What we really crave is companionship, and someone to understand us through our daily actions. That’s why I started Maohegong,” said Zhou, who bought and sought all 52 cat breeds in his shop.
He only serves drinks to ensure that no food is consumed within the well-lit, well-ventilated shop. This prevents any unexpected poisoning of cats by consuming human food – an effort put in place by Zhou to ensure the good health of these animals.
Zhou acknowledges that serving food will create an additional stream of income and attract even more customers, but his top focus is still on ensuring a premium, safe space for these cats to be housed.
Zhou also spent more than a hundred thousand yuan on renovation works – the most expensive investment for the operation of this café. Tall structures provide shelter for cats to protect themselves when they do not desire human interaction. Healthcare units keep sick and tired cats away from humans, ensuring sufficient rest. These are all of Zhou’s efforts in creating a safe space.
And although Maohegong has yet to make profits, Zhou believes that proper health and welfare standards for the cats will draw a large base of loyal customers to cover the costs.
Mocha café
A similar procedure at Maohegong and Mocha is the pre-visit sanitation of all their customers. Prior to entering the animal boundary, all patrons are made to wash their hands thoroughly and place valuables. Outside footwear is not allowed in and every single patron is then sanitized from head to toe to ensure that these cats are not placed at a disadvantage when interacting with patrons.
The way beverages are served differentiates Mocha from Maohegong. At Mocha, there are self-service beverage stations in the changing area before they step in. Lids are also provided to prevent spillage or prevent fur from entering.
“The lids not only keep the drinks hygienic. The primary reason is to ensure that no spillage occurs and it doesn’t become an obstacle for the in-house animals,” said the owner of Mocha, Tong Zhang, who started the café eight months ago.
Once customers enter the areas with cats, they can choose from different corners to spend time with cats. Specifically curated, the café has multiple features to maximize the entertainment value for customers. There, visitors can either just spend time cuddling with a cat, read a book, access their electronic devices with multiple charging points, play electronic games on in-built monitors.
Video showing the unique features at second-generation cat cafes.
And because Zhang is a white-collar employee by day and cannot be at the shop all the time, she puts a great emphasis on staff training and education. This ensures that everyone is suitable for cat caregiving.
“Everyone has to attend a mandatory course on the basics of cats’ habits and quirks. They also spend an entire month playing with them before officially starting work,” she says.
Staff will also observe if new cats display stress reactions upon joining the café. They will note down their mental and physical reactions. This is to ensure that cats are well-adapted to an unfamiliar environment before playing with customers.
“We constantly observe if the cats are in a good or bad mood. If they are often displeased, we will do what we can to figure out why,” explains Zhang.
Indeed, these two top two cat cafés in Beijing are examples of modernized and responsible animal-loving. With the constant desire of companionship coupled with the lack of time to care for a pet, a second-generation cat café could be the panacea to these problems and the missing piece of the puzzle in the market for animal lovers.
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