When Franchise Times profiled Orlando Cat Café, they didn’t just write about whiskers and lattes—they captured a cat cafe franchise growth story built on rescue partnerships, guest experience, and a playbook ready to travel. Per the piece, we appear to be the only franchised cat café in the country, and that distinction comes with a clear mission: save as many cat lives as possible in a new paradigm.
For prospective franchisees and impact-minded investors, the Franchise Times feature is a strong introduction to how coffee, adoptable cats, and shelter collaboration add up to a scalable hospitality brand—without treating animals as a marketing afterthought.
Table of Contents
Impact metrics that matter (as reported by Franchise Times)
Franchise Times’ reporting sketches the results behind our Clermont flagship. We share these figures as reported in that profile:
- More than 3,500 cats adopted over a decade
- 230,000-plus visitors since inception
- 100% of adoption fees go to the shelter partner
- Roughly 20–30 cats living in the lounge at a time
- $12 per hour for cat visits (reservations recommended for peak times)
- Separate A/C filters for the café side and play area
- About eight part-time employees recommended (four on each side of operations)
- Franchising began in 2025; first franchise location in Frisco, Texas
- Near-term expansion focus on the Southeast
Those numbers aren’t vanity metrics—they’re proof that a purpose-driven café can grow guests, revenue, and adoptions together (excluding the pandemic year, per the article’s reporting on upward trends).
What the guest—and the franchisee—experience includes
Franchise Times described three customer types we serve: vacationers, locals who love the coffee and vibe, and guests actively looking to adopt. The lounge is cage-free; cats live on site until they find homes. Special events—cat yoga, wine glass painting, cat high tea—help fill the calendar and give more people a reason to walk through the door.
Operational details matter in a live-animal concept. Separate air-conditioning filters help reduce allergen cross-contamination between café and play spaces—so someone with a cat allergy can often still enjoy the café side. And when you’re working with living animals, closing processes aren’t like a typical restaurant: if A/C fails in Florida heat, it can’t wait until morning. Franchisees join a brand that treats that urgency as non-negotiable.
Franchising with shelter partners first
As franchisor, we personally help identify a reputable local shelter partner in each new market. Vendor relationships matter; the shelter relationship is essential. Frisco, Texas, is our first franchise location, with Southeast growth as the current focus—intentional expansion rather than a race to every zip code.
Sandy Cagan’s path—from property management and a milestone birthday to opening Florida’s first cat café near Disney World in 2016—shows up clearly in the Franchise Times narrative. The original goal was simply to break even and help cats. The concept “blew up,” and a decade of lessons is now packaged for owners who want mission and margin in the same business plan.
Read the full Franchise Times profile on our franchise growth.
Ready to explore whether Orlando Cat Café is the right paw-sitive next chapter for you? Visit orlandocatcafefranchise.com to learn about territory, investment, and next steps.