Summary
We’re still open – all of the same operational modifications mentioned in my last blog post remain in tact.
Cat lounge reservations are required if you want to see the cats. The DEH will not allow customers to watch through the window viewing wall at this time.
We will be packaging all food and beverage orders in to-go containers, for you to take with you after your cat lounge visit. Additionally to-go orders can be placed via phone and Purrvisions are available for online ordering.
[ IMPORANT ] If you feel ill, have health concerns or are caring for someone with health concerns please stay home.
Background
On March 16th we shut down Cat & Craft due to Governor Newsom ordering all non-essential businesses to close.
At the time there was no state guidance regarding sanitation or masks, and lots of scary news about people getting sick and dying.
So I believed the right thing to do was close like everyone else and tough it out. We told our staff we would pay them their regular paycheck through March 31st, and then we’d see what our options were.
By April 1st we had no choice but to lay off 90% of those employees, keeping only two cat lounge hosts on board because cats still need care and attention 7 days per week regardless of whether or not we have customers.
My husband Andrew spent every waking hour coming up with a plan for how to survive the closure – he bought and wired a live feed camera for the cat lounge, and we pivoted with almost every product we make or use on the cafe side so that we could have something to sell.
And at night, we’d lay awake worrying about our aging parents on the east coast… how we couldn’t visit them even if they fell ill. April was a dark and lonely time.
In mid-May we finally received a Paycheck Protection Program loan. It was small, but small is better than nothing.
So with this glimmer of hope we started to bring back employees for short shifts, a few hours a week, to try and maintain our team that’s been with us since the day we opened. And adoptions were continuing by private appointment – one family or individual at a time, so that too served to inspire us to just keep swimming.
In early June the re-openings began across California and San Diego. We waited. We watched other businesses spring back to life overnight and we still waited… because what if we re-opened our doors, rehired all our employees, reinvested in all the food and beverage supplies necessary to operate a coffee shop, just to get shut down again?
By the 2nd week of June things looked good… our staff wanted to come back to work so we ordered floor graphics to aid social distancing, removed furniture, added hand sanitizer stations and cashless payment options, increased sanitation practices throughout the cafe and the cat lounge, and re-opened our doors June 18th. That was 20 days ago.
I should also mention that during these 20 days the Department of Environmental Health stopped by to inspect our COVID-19 safety practices (along with the usual cafe safety requirements) and they gave us a perfect score of 100.
Over the past 20 days our revenue has bounced between 35% and 41% of what it was this time last year. But at least we’ve been able to enjoy happy smiling customers, and see an amazing number of adoptions.
So you tell yourself you’ll be able to get back to even in time, because good work is being done and that’s what really matters.
This week San Diego County moved to restrict the number of businesses that can conduct indoor operations.
We’re licensed as a coffee shop with an “ancillary use” (that’s the cat lounge) by the City of Vista. Today the San Diego Department of Environmental Health confirmed we can continue our cat lounge reservations as along as all food and beverage orders are taken “to-go” and not consumed in the cafe.
Given the current state of affairs and opinions about COVID-19, since reopening June 18 we’ve only had 3 days where we actually reached our modified 8 person capacity in the cat lounge.
So… all of this is to help explain why we are still open and still working to get cats adopted. Our PPP loan is almost gone, and you can’t pay employees and rent with money you don’t have. That means we are extremely dependent on those who believe in us and our mission to help support us during this time.