This Place is the Cat’s Meow!

63 percent of Americans start their days with a cup of coffee. 32.1 percent own cats. For those
with overlapping statistics, head on down to 401 E Colfax Street to visit the Cat Lady Cafe!

Having been recently opened in March of 2023, this is a place to enjoy a hot or cold drink
(whether it be coffee, hot chocolate, or lemonade!) and help some cats find their furever homes
while serving drinks, food, and smiles.

“Most of the people are super kind and super friendly. And then if they aren’t, they’re just kinda
shy but still friendly,” freshman and customer Antony Willis said.

While they tend to keep having 10-15 kitties at a time (including permanent resident Chipmunk,
also referred to as Chippy), and Owner Kim Sult is happy with seeing this number leave the
room so that more cats may come in.

“Getting the cats adopted is the best part about this and, you know, offering people a different
avenue to, you know, get to interact with the cats and make that decision,” owner Kim Sult said.

And while it had never originally been the plan to keep a permanent resident, Chipmunk took to
the cafe like creamer to a bitter cup of coffee.

“Cat Lady Cafe is amazing, and Chipmunk is the cutest,” Willis stated.

“Whenever I know we bring new cats in, he wants to investigate that. He’s welcoming all the
other cats into the room. So, he’s a really great ambassador cat to have at that cafe,” Executive
Director of the Humane Society Genny Brown said.

To help the cats get adopted, they host many events, including a bingo with cats, pottery night,
and much more!

“It was during the event they had, it was like a pajama night where you would dress up in your
pajamas and go to the cat cafe, and then you got one free cookie and one free drink while you
played with the cats for about an hour,” Willis said. “You would mainly just hang out with the
cats, play with the cats, pet the cats, take photos, videos, and look at the cats.”

“I love how much people love that event. The cats are roaming around the room. All the prizes
are cat themed prizes or, like, items from our boutique or a pass to come back and visit the cats
another time,” Sult said.

And as they continue to expand, with more cats getting adopted, they hope to expand their menus
further than what they already have with their partnership with the Thistle and Knead and
Cakery. By adding their own products of house-made soups and sandwiches.

“A lot of times people are looking for a little something more than just a coffee when they come
here, so hopefully we’re very close to being able to to make that happen, and provide for our
guests,” Sult stated.

Along with a growing menu, they also have an impressive selection of items for people to take
paws so they can look at them.

“Me, my partner, and their sibling, we looked at all of the stickers and all the little merchandise
they had, and we really wanted to get some,” freshman and customer Addison Alkire said.

With that being what is to come, one may be wondering though, is how Sult got her start. And
that is a story all of its own.

Having been visiting a friend in London, and having been volunteering at the Humane Society
for 14 years at this point along with being a director for eight or nine of those years, it was no
surprise that her friend brought her to a cat cafe.

What was slightly more surprising, is that after falling in love with cat cafes, she decided that
South Bend needed to have one, and that it would be a perfect way to help the Humane Society.

This decision though, she knew would take plenty of time and effort, yet that didn’t make her
back down. As of fall of 2020, she was a member of the SPARK Business Accelerator, which is
part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Initiative at Saint Mary’s College, where she learned
exactly what she needed to so she could make this decision a reality.

And as of March, 2023, she did, and the Cafe’s popularity has been growing ever since. To the
point where, as of November 23rd, 143 cats have been adopted. A number that has, as of
December Ninth, grown to 145, and will certainly, continue to grow.

“Me and my partner were going to have our first date, and we wanted to have it someplace
special that we knew we’d both like. And we both really like cats, and we both really want cats.
They’ve been to the Cat Lady Cafe before, and they said it was a really nice place,” Alkire stated.

For anyone who, like Alkire and Willis, wish to adopt cats and would be interested in adopting
from the Cat Lady Cafe, the cat’s got your tongue no more, and you can go ahead and start the
process from the cafe!

“The cafe actually has a tablet where you can fill out the humane society’s adoption application
right there at the cafe. I think they might have some paper copies of that application too, but if
somebody’s interested in adopting, we highly encourage them to fill out the online application,
whether they’re still at the cafe or they go home and they fill it out at home. It’s completely up to
them,” Brown stated, “that way all those applications are submitted and received by our office,
and so the Humane Society will go through each of those applications.”

“Getting the cats adopted is the best part about this and offering people a different avenue to get
to interact with the cats and make that decision,” Sult stated.