Founder Kanchan Singh | Type Cat café | |
Formation June 20, 2015 (2015-06-20) Location • 3211 O St NW, Washington, D.C. 20007
• 7924 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90048 Region Washington metropolitan area
Los Angeles metropolitan area Products Coffee • Tea • Cookies | ||
Crumbs and Whiskers is a small business which operates cat cafés, or coffeehouses that features cats as an attraction, in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, California. Crumbs and Whiskers opened its first cat café in Washington D.C. on June 20, 2015 and was the first cat café to open in the Washington metropolitan area. The Washington D.C. café is partnered with the local chapter of the Humane Society in order to provide a boarding space for around 15–25 cats at a time. Through the partnership arrangement, the Humane Society provides vaccinated and vetted cats to Crumbs and Whiskers which functions as a foster home for the cats until they are adopted.
The Los Angeles café opened on September 30, 2016 and was the first cat café to open in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Los Angeles café is partnered with Karma Rescue, a Los Angeles-based animal shelter which provides cats for the café. Similar to the Washington D.C. café, the Los Angeles café offers boarding space for the cats until they are adopted.
Crumbs and Whiskers uses an online reservation system for scheduling visits and charges a fixed hourly cover fee. For safety reasons, children under 13 are not allowed, and young adults between the ages of 13 and 17 must have a form signed by an adult. Crumbs and Whiskers allows customers to begin the application process for adopting one of the cats on site at their cafés.
Startup funding
The business founder, Kanchan Singh, opted to finance the venture by crowdfunding through a Kickstarter project with a US$15,000 target, an amount which she was initially uncertain that she could raise. The Crumbs and Whiskers Kickstarter project reached its funding target less than a day after it launched, and doubled this amount prior to the project deadline. The campaign ended with 705 backers and raised a total of $35,881 for the café.