I'm here with one of my favorite community people, Kim, who is the owner of the Cat Lady Cafe.

You're one of my favorite people.

Not just because I know you personally, but actually because.

And I text you this recently, so this isn't me.

Just, you know, saying it for the sake of the camera.

A lot of people have ideas, but to execute an idea is the real.

It's a real struggle.

You know what I'm saying?

Yes, it is a real struggle.

Yeah.

And not only have you got the Cat lady Cafe here, but all these cats that are here from the Humane Society of Saint Joseph County.

And recently you reached a new milestone for which I think is incredible.

So tell me a little bit about that.

Well, thank you.

And first of all, thank you.

Yes, you text me from time to time letting me know that I'm hanging to hang in there doing a good job.

So I appreciate that.

You know, we need we need entrepreneurship is a it's so low.

It's it's lonely sometimes.

And so we need cheerleaders.

So thank you for being one of mine I appreciate it.

And I'm one of your biggest fans.

Thank you.

So it's mutual.

So 300 now we're at 306 adoptions.

Right now.

Today.

And so again, super grateful for our partnership, with our friends at the Humane Society of Saint Joe County and could not do that without them.

But we're here.

We're coming up on our three year anniversary of being in business.

So lots of three, three, three, 300, 300 cash, milestone adoptions.

So I, you know, again, until I started my own business, I would never think about little things, like how much the furniture cost, how much your sign cost, how much this wall cost, how much the electric, like all those things.

And I'm not trying to, like, send you into a mental spiral here.

By our money, of all the delay.

But it is.

It's so difficult to take that leap.

People don't realize how much it's like, financially hard and just the struggle of, well, people come in.

And that's why I just want people watching to really support what you're doing.

And so you reached the 300 adoptions, which again, there are 300 cats now and 300 happy people, happy homes, happy home that have cats because you decided to do something.

Thank you.

I just love that.

Well thank you.

And I, you know.

Yes.

Despite all of that or including all of the financial issues, despite, you know, that go along with this.

You know, I wake up every day.

I'm happy.

I love being here.

Yeah.

I'm thrilled that I have created this place with my team.

You know, with a lot of the folks behind the scene.

I mean, I'm happy to be the face of the of the place, but lots of people behind the scenes that keep this place going, you know, the community has supported us and we would not be here without that.

All the folks that come into this area from out of town that come and see us, that that love cat cafes or are so excited that we're here, I mean, that all adds into it.

And I always say, even if you come in and buy a cup of coffee, you're helping us pay the rent.

You're helping us pay the electricity so we can help these cats.

So that's that's how it works.

So and so when you say like cats and cafes and people think cats and food and everything that's going on, it's like the cats are in here in their own room and then the cafe is separate, but then you can mix the two of you with.

Yes, absolutely.

We just always want to let people know, because sometimes you think of animals, you're not just sitting and eating and cats are like rubbing off cats.

You're not going to jump in your coffee.

I mean, they they try to in here, but we discourage that as much as possible.

But yes, we always want people to know that if you don't care to come in and see the cast or you're just out and about, we want what we serve really good coffee.

Yes, you do know that.

And we get that that compliments and feedback from people a lot.

I think they're pleasantly surprised.

Like we're cool, we have cats.

That's that's the draw here.

But our coffee drinks are really good.

So even if you're just out and about, we want you to stop in and grab a coffee now for sure and help this local entrepreneur who went for, you know, you're doing it.

You're going for something else.

Which again, such a big endeavor.

Okay, so I feel like this segment is going to end with a brown bag.

You just in the corner like, you know, breathing into it.

But tell me that you've created something that's going to be at the century Center here soon.

Yeah, just across the river.

Yeah.

So another big leap.

And I feel like this is just kind of the next thing immigration from from this business.

So the event is called the Midwest Meow Fest.

Yeah.

And so think of like tradeshow convention style at the Century Center.

Yeah.

But of course all cat related.

So we'll have lots of vendors that are selling cat themed products.

We'll have an adoption village.

So our friends at the Humane Society as well as many other local rescues.

Yeah, we'll have cats.

They're up for adoption.

And our main draw is, she's known as the kitten lady.

Her name is Hannah Shaw.

Okay.

She's coming in from California.

She is an internationally known kitten educator.

Wow.

So we're going to educate folks as well.

We're going to have a ton of fun, but we're going to educate because in my three years of doing this and many more years of being involved with the Humane Society, there's just there's so much that people don't know about about how to care for cats.

You know, we have the stray cat population.

You see a cat outside.

So I get asked that all the time.

And I'm always trying to educate people on that.

So we're going to we're going to do a little bit of education and have a ton of fun.

I love the fact that, like, the whole like, cat lady thing was such a like derogatory term and you just, like, embraced it and built a whole business around it.

You're like, no, I'm owning the cat lady.

That's yeah, that is perfect.

And we have not talked about this, but that is how the name came up.

Really.

I knew I wanted to do, Cat cafe did not have a name, did not have a name.

And I was brainstorming with a friend who was helping me, and I said, you know, I said, I, I'm there's such a negative thing about being a cat lady.

And I said, I want to turn that around.

So that's how the name came about.

So I like, you know, that is yeah, I think it's great.

I love it so much.

And again, I know that you're here on Colfax, right?

Like this, is this the Commerce building or what's the commerce on the Commerce Center?

Yeah.

That you're inside here.

And what are your opening hours for here?

And then we'll talk about the, you know, the meow fest.

Sure, sure.

So we're open here every day except for Wednesdays.

Some days during the week, we open at 11 a little bit later.

Not not a coffee time, but 11.

Yeah.

Fridays and Saturdays were 10 to 4.

Sundays, noon to noon to five.

Yeah.

And so, yes, we always recommend reservations if you want to come in and see the cats.

That's another thing we try to encourage people to, to know about because we limit the number of people in the room.

Yeah.

So if we're full we can't get you in and it is relaxing.

And I will tell you.

Right.

Because my wife has not a cat lady.

Okay, we've talked about this, so we're working on it.

We've recently, you know, our dog, passed away recently after I had her for like, 10 or 11 years.

And you know what's funny about that?

Not that I don't want to turn this into therapy, but, like, when she first died, I was like, okay, we had a good run, you know?

It was like I had her for, you know, it's a dog.

It's, you know, and the last few weeks I'm like, I miss her so much, you know?

Yeah.

So yeah, we're often out and about.

And we were recently out at one of the pet stores that has the cats in there, and my daughter, like, just loves seeing them.

And my wife looked at me.

She goes, I, I, you know, we're expecting another baby.

So she goes, no, not right now.

Right now.

No, no.

She goes, but I think I could see a cat like, you know, in our future.

And I was like, you can, you can.

Okay.

So.

Oh I didn't push it.

No, no, no.

You know, I usually push things, so I just I was like, all right, this step in the right direction.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

I don't know what's going on.

And so you mentioned that you're open here, so you never know.

A cat might be in our future.

Yes, please.

Yes, yes.

With the meow first.

When is that on?

That is Saturday, March 21st.

Okay.

So the five at the Century Center.

So that's not too far away.

I know you know about a month away.

And and again, do you have to be a crazy cat lady to want to go to this?

I mean, for people watching, I think, you know, like my wife, like I'm not interested in cats.

Like, you know what, as you said, the education.

But what else is really there for people?

So we're going to have events on the mainstage.

Hannah Shaw will be one of our speakers, so we'll have some education.

We're going to do some bingo.

We're going to do some silly things.

We have a local veterinarian that's going to speak as well, just as some general cat health, again, things that people want to know about.

But then our vendor booths will be lots of shopping, local artisans that are going to be there as well.

Just so all cat themed or mostly cat themed type of things and just just a fun environment.

Nice, is a ticketed like, do people have to buy tickets for.

Yes, yes, we are selling tickets on our website Midwest Meow fest.com.

Okay, we'd love to.

We'd love to have you buy tickets in advance, but we will have tickets at the door as well.

But obviously and again, I just kind of encourage you enough, like, you're a local person who's taking these chances.

I mean, if people even knew just how much it was to rent out the Century Center, you know, again, I'll get you the brown bag here in a second.

Okay.

But but all these things, I was like, I can't encourage people enough that like, buy a ticket, go along, support it.

Because otherwise, like, we don't have a local economy without this.

This is it's people like you taking a chance to do that.

So thank you for doing it.

Make sure your supporter and make sure and come and see these cats whatever you do, because I do really like them.

My wife has a thing about them jumping on the counter.

So that's fine.

You know, we'll we'll get over there.

Right.

So.

Right.

So yeah good job.

Good job.

Thank you.

We'll get you a brown bag now.

Thank you.

Hyperventilate over the corner together okay.

Thank you.