Orlando Cat Cafe Sets Its Sights on Franchise Expansion

A Florida Cat Cafe Turns Adoptions Into a Growing Business

Orlando Cat Cafe began with a modest goal: cover its costs, help local shelter cats find homes and offer visitors a relaxing place to enjoy coffee. Ten years later, the business has welcomed more than 230,000 guests and supported over 3,500 cat adoptions.

Founder Sandy Cagan is now preparing to take the concept beyond Florida through franchising. The first Orlando Cat Cafe franchise is expected to open in El Paso, Texas, with additional growth initially focused on the southeastern United States.

The expansion represents a new chapter for a business that combines food service, entertainment and animal welfare under one roof.

How Orlando Cat Cafe Works

The concept operates through two carefully separated spaces. Customers can order coffee and refreshments from the cafe before entering a dedicated play area occupied by adoptable cats.

Guests pay $12 for an hour with the animals. Reservations are encouraged during busy periods, although walk-in visitors are accepted when space permits.

Around 20 to 30 cats typically live at the cafe while waiting to be adopted. Unlike a temporary adoption event, the animals remain on-site full time, giving them an opportunity to become comfortable with the environment and interact naturally with potential families.

The building uses separate air-conditioning filters for the cafe and cat areas. This helps limit the movement of allergens and maintains appropriate sanitation between the food-service operation and the animal space. Visitors with mild cat allergies may still be able to enjoy the regular cafe without entering the playroom.

Creating Natural Connections Between Cats and Adopters

One of the most memorable parts of the experience is watching cats select the people with whom they feel comfortable.

According to Cagan, customers sometimes arrive after seeing a specific cat online, only to discover that another animal forms an immediate connection with them. A quiet cat that has barely entered the playroom may suddenly climb onto a visitor’s lap and begin kneading.

These unexpected interactions can help adopters make decisions based on personality and compatibility rather than appearance alone. Every adoption fee collected at Orlando Cat Cafe goes directly to the participating animal shelter.

From Philanthropic Idea to Popular Attraction

Cagan discovered the cat cafe model after learning about a New York location in 2014. With her 50th birthday approaching, she wanted to start a meaningful side project that could support animal welfare.

The idea allowed her to combine two important parts of her life: her professional experience in property management and her lifelong affection for cats.

She opened Orlando Cat Cafe in 2016, approximately 15 minutes from Walt Disney World. She initially hoped the operation would simply break even while creating more adoption opportunities. Instead, the business quickly attracted tourists, residents and families searching for a pet.

Its location near one of the country’s busiest tourism destinations helped introduce the concept to visitors from many different regions.

Three Main Customer Groups Support the Business

Orlando Cat Cafe attracts a wider audience than a traditional adoption centre.

Tourists visit because the cafe offers an unusual activity away from Orlando’s larger attractions. Local customers return for the coffee, atmosphere and opportunity to spend time with cats. Prospective adopters use the space to meet several animals in a comfortable and unhurried setting.

This mix helps the business avoid relying entirely on adoption traffic. Someone may visit simply for the experience and later become an adopter, donor or repeat customer.

The cafe also creates additional reasons to return through special programming. Events have included yoga with cats, wine-glass painting and cat-themed high tea. These activities generate interest while giving the animals more exposure to potential adopters.

A Rare Franchise Opportunity in the Cat Cafe Market

Cat cafes have existed for decades, but most remain small, independently owned businesses. The modern concept first appeared in Taiwan in 1998 before becoming especially popular throughout Asia and Europe.

Interest has also increased in the United States, where independent cafes can now be found in many large metropolitan areas. However, the category has not developed into a significant franchise segment.

Orlando Cat Cafe began offering franchises in 2025 and appears to be one of the few concepts attempting to build a structured franchise system around the model.

The brand’s decade of operating experience provides a foundation for training new owners. Apart from the disruption of 2020, the original cafe has reported continued increases in customer visits, revenue and adoptions since opening.

What Franchisees Need to Operate the Concept

Running a cat cafe requires more than experience in hospitality. Franchisees must manage two connected operations while maintaining high standards for customer service, cleanliness and animal care.

Cagan recommends approximately eight part-time employees, with four supporting the cafe and four working on the animal side. Reliable vendor relationships are important, but the local shelter partnership is central to the business.

Orlando Cat Cafe plans to help each franchisee identify a reputable animal shelter willing to participate in the program. That relationship determines how cats enter the cafe, how their health and behaviour are managed, and how adoptions are completed.

Operating around live animals also requires faster responses to certain maintenance problems. An air-conditioning failure cannot always wait until regular business hours, particularly in a hot climate. Franchisees must be prepared to address anything affecting the animals’ safety or comfort immediately.

Building a Business Around a Larger Mission

The Orlando Cat Cafe franchise model offers multiple ways to generate customer traffic while addressing a community need. Coffee sales, playroom admission and ticketed events support the commercial side of the operation, while shelter partnerships keep animal adoption at the centre of the brand.

Cagan’s long-term goal is not simply to open more cafes. She wants to create a repeatable system that helps more shelter cats meet the right families.

With its first franchise preparing to open in Texas, Orlando Cat Cafe is taking an independently successful concept and turning it into a potential regional franchise brand—one adoption at a time.

Explore more about Orlando Cat Cafe franchise opportunities.