Pet lovers and coffee addicts alike have a new place to check out on Franklin Street, as both cats and lattes abound at Cat Tales Cat Cafe.
Cat Tales, which opened in mid-February at 431 West Franklin Street and is owned by Katy Poitras and Ilene Speizer, lets customers play with rescue cats while also purchasing a variety of beverages and snacks.
Cat Tales is split into two areas: a lobby where one can purchase food and drink, and a two-story lounge where the cats play. Only ten customers are allowed into the lounge at a time to keep the cats from feeling overwhelmed.
Poitras and Speizer were inspired to open the store after witnessing the success other cafes were having adopting out cats.
“[In 2017], around Thanksgiving, there were stories on the news about shelters being at capacity and how desperate they were to find homes for cats,” Poitras said. “It was at that moment I thought ‘Why don’t I try to do something to help?’”
Speizer was inspired after visiting other cat cafes.
“[After visiting Crooked Tale Cat Cafe in Greensboro], I came home and said to myself ‘Chapel Hill needs a cafe cafe.’ I [then] started poking around for what that would entail and was thrilled to find Katy with a similar idea,” Speizer said.
Poitras and Speizer teamed up at the start of 2018.
“We were both at the early stages of looking into opening a cat cafe when we heard about each other,” Poitras said. “It’s a great match because Illene is a full-time professor at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (UNC) and was going to need someone to run the cafe.”
Poitras had been looking for a career change after 20 years of landscape design and contracting, and works at the cafe full time.
Cat Tales is partnering with Goathouse Refuge in Pittsboro, which supplies the cats.
“The best part is when we are adopting out cats, the team at Goathouse will be finding and identifying new cats in high-risk shelter situations and bring them to Goathouse,” Poitras said.
Poitras and Speizer see potential in a partnership with the UNC hospital system, as well as other healthcare programs.
“We would love to host groups from assisted living communities, have guided meditations, yoga with cats—the possibilities are endless,” Poitras said.
Speizer has volunteered for years at the Orange County Animal Shelter with her daughter Kyla, a senior at East Chapel Hill High School, and together the pair were named Hometown Heroes in 2016 for their volunteer work.
Senior Christina Nguyen visited Cat Tales a week after it opened.
“I had a really fun time, and the cats were really cute,” Nguyen said. “But go in knowing that for the whole hour you’re there, you may not be playing with the cats because the cats may get tired or do their own thing.”
Potential visitors to Cat Tales must reserve a spot on their website.
