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After a backpacking trip in 2014, Singh was inspired by something she discovered. A cat café! Let's be honest, who isn't inspired by something like that! So, she did the only reasonable thing to do. She decided to open her own back home!
"It was one of the most magical, fun and ridiculous things I'd ever done," she recalled. "I didn't even know cat cafés were a thing, but immediately I knew that this is what I had to do. It was my aha moment."
When Singh first decided to build her business in 2014, cat cafes were basically non- existent in the United States. Not to mention that starting a business at the young age of 24, that's pretty brave and rare!
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via Crumbs & Whiskers.She spoke to Forbes stating, "It was all absolutely terrifying. Luckily, on the other side of fear, there's also hope and possibility. That's the part I chose to focus on," she told Forbes writer Hartz.
So, after she had her AHA moment, she bravely quit her corporate consulting job and raised a whooping $36,000 on kickstarter to open the first and only Cat Café in D.C. called Crumbs & Whiskers. And fun fact... it was the first cat café to open in the United States! Now, there are 24 across the country, and for all those west coasters, don't worry. Singh's second cat café happens to be in Los Angeles.
So, how do they keep the place up and running? Well, with some rules of course! "The most important rule is please be gentle with our kitties. Remember human food is for humans. Cat food is for cats," Rachael McKinney, a lead host and marketing intern at Crumbs & Whiskers. The protocol; make reservations online, once in the café you have the option to order drinks and snacks from a restaurant next door that delivers. Then you just enjoy, lay back and play with cats and kittens! The café usually hosts around 18 cats at a time.
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03 via Crumbs & Whiskers.
Best part?
All 18 cats who live at the café are available for adoption! And do to the success of the café, the cats don't stick around long because they get adopted so quickly! More than 300 cats have found homes since Crumbs & Whiskers opened almost two years ago. We mean come on! That in itself is rewarding enough! Singh expressed, "My biggest passions in life—the two things I wanted to do most—were helping animals and building a company with a social mission[…]My heart beats for animals. I think it's because I feel like animals need us. They don't have a voice, and they aren't as powerful as we are, and if we won't stand up for them, who will?"
Too True!
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