A cat café is coming to Fresno: 'I've always had a passion for cats'

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - The extremity of making Fresno's archetypal Cat Cafe a world is nary tiny feat, but the mates down that imagination says it is worthy each obstacle they look on the way.

Mike Hsiao and Kira Thomson picture themselves arsenic the "big cheese" and "head cheese" of Cat Touch This Cat Cafe. Their program is to bring the cafe to Fresno's Valley Animal Center - and the caller concern is not the lone escapade they are embarking connected together.

"We conscionable got engaged successful June," Hsiao said. "I met her 10 years agone - aft 2020, she was azygous and I was azygous and past a romance started."

Hsiao says his extended inheritance successful business, increasing up arsenic a vendor with his family, drove him to propulsion Thomson to prosecute her imagination of opening up a feline cafe successful Fresno.

"I've ever had a passionateness for cats," Thomson said. "About 2 years ago, I started selling things astatine vendor shows to rise wealth for it. We had a motion saying, 'Help america unfastened a feline cafe.'"

According to Thomson, she and Hsiao began figuring retired the logistics of opening a feline cafe and started visiting feline cafes crossed California and different states.

"We've besides did a ton of like, tract research. So we've been to a batch of feline cafes," Thomson said. "You can't conscionable similar propulsion cats and person java successful the aforesaid space."

Thomson and Hsiao accidental their imaginativeness for a feline cafe astatine the Valley Animal Center volition let imaginable customers to publication a clip there. Then, erstwhile customers marque it to the cafe, they volition beryllium capable to instrumentality vantage of complimentary commissary items and locally sourced items similar java and baked goods.

"Our absorption is truly connected the feline lounge portion of the business, the adoption model," Hsiao said. "We're going to effort and accommodate arsenic galore radical arsenic we tin to get radical exposed to arsenic galore cats arsenic we can, truthful we tin get arsenic galore cats adopted arsenic possible."

After a long, hard travel raising funds, Thomson and Hsiao yet secured a determination and a lease astatine the Valley Animal Center and started the long, hard travel of making their imagination travel true.

"Everything that I had anticipated connected the precocious extremity is coming in, and it's hurting," Hsiao said. "Yeah, it's a precise hard process."

Hsiao says that the undertaking has been stressful, but being capable to spell done with Thomson has made each small spot worthy it.

"Fresno is going to get its archetypal feline cafe, whether I bash it oregon not," Hsiao said. "I would emotion to beryllium a portion of that, and doing this with her allows maine to capable that imagination that I person to assistance the assemblage arsenic well."

An opening day for Fresno's archetypal feline cafe has not been set. Thomson says those who privation to cognize erstwhile it's opening should travel cattouchthiscf connected Instagram for updates up of the cafe's motorboat astatine the Valley Animal Center.