Boston’s First Cat Cafe Inches Closer

Sit tight, Boston; your cat cafe is still coming, but there are a few more hurdles to clear. Owner Diane Kelly has signed a lease for a space and plans to do community outreach to gather support for the proposed PURR cat cafe, and then she will seek zoning approval from the City of Boston.

Kelly’s permit application was initially denied, but she is working with a zoning attorney to appeal the denial and has submitted architectural floor plans to the Board of Health. Demonstrating support from the community will play a key part in winning approval from the city. If no one from the neighborhood around the proposed cafe opposes having the business in the area, there will be one more zoning hearing for PURR, and if the business gets approved, Kelly will be able to share the exact location of the forthcoming cafe.

Part of her community outreach for PURR includes merchandise: Kelly has a new logo that’s going on t-shirts, sweatshirts, pins, caps, mugs, and more, and she hopes to do a pop-up cat cafe at some point, along with a crowdfunding campaign.

In the meantime, Kelly is getting all her ducks in a row: She has hired a general manager for the cafe and is working on a partnership for food and beverages. She also started working with an interior decorator and plans to bid out the construction work soon. Buildout of the cafe, once approved, will likely take six weeks, she said. A zoning hearing for PURR will likely happen in early December.

• All PURR Coverage on Eater [EBOS]
• A Cat Cafe Is Definitely Coming to Boston, and You'll Know Where Soon [EBOS]