A cat cafe is coming to D.C. It will be called Crumbs and Whiskers. This is not a drill.
Still in the earliest planning stages, the cafe will soon launch a Kickstarter, according to its site, with more information to follow. The Washington Humane Society will supply the cats to the cafe, according to a spokesperson, meaning all the cats will be available for adoption.
Kanchan Singh, founder and owner of Crumbs and Whiskers, said ideally the cafe would launch in summer 2015 with possible delays pushing the opening to fall. The full website is scheduled go live in mid-December, and the Kickstarter is expected to launch in mid-January.
The only thing that could delay the cat cafe, Singh said, is a special zoning exception process that will take approximately seven months from the time they settled on a property.
"Regardless of how the Kickstarter goes, we will be opening a cat cafe," Singh said by email, adding that the funds would be used to create "a really awesome cafe environment" with things like custom furniture. "If the Kickstarter goes well, we will essentially open a bigger and better cat cafe. If not, we'll still open a basic cafe. It might be lacking a super amazing atmosphere and fancy cat furniture/play areas, but Crumbs and Whiskers is opening regardless."
The U.S.'s first cat cafe recently opened in Oakland — which is so popular you need a reservation to get in on the weekends — with similar plans in New York, Seattle and other forward-thinking cities.