Love cats and coffee? You can indulge in your fondness for both at The Cats Cottage, a new Latina-owned coffee shop that recently opened in the Grahamwood Crossing strip on Summer Avenue. The cafe, launched this fall by Christian Brothers University student Sahra Hernandez, serves a deliciously diverse menu of coffee, tea, boba, frappes, smoothies, pastries, cakes, and waffles — along with cat-shaped cookies and donuts.
While there are no actual acts at The Cats Cottage, the decor celebrates all things feline with its spotted walls, cozy couches, climbing plants, and shelves stocked with games and books, including titles like The Cat’s Mind and Catwatching: The Essential Guide to Cat Behaviour. Owner Sahra loves cats, and she believes that is a bond most people share. “Cats are universal … Even if you don’t [like them], you can’t say they are not cute,” she says.
Inspired by the themed cat cafes prevalent in Japan, she initially wanted to create a fun atmosphere where people could stop by to relax and enjoy cat-themed treats, but now her mission has become more about providing kids in the neighborhood with a safe space where they can meet up to do homework or hang out. The shop offers discounts for students and free Wifi, and it hosts events like trivia nights and loterĂa night (a Mexican bingo-like game where players draw cards for prizes).
Since its October launch, The Cats Cottage has drawn a steady stream of young customers, including middle and high school students from nearby schools as well as students from CBU and the University of Memphis.
“It’s so small here that you can’t help but have conversations and build connections with people who come in,” Sahra says. “Unlike Starbucks, where baristas are rushing to get your order out, here we want to have a conversation with you.”
“I’m an introverted person,” she adds, “but I think cats draw in a lot of introverted people, so we end up being extroverted together.”
The idea for The Cat’s Cottage was born last spring when Sahra, a senior business student at CBU, and her friend Carlos Castro decided to start a business together. She knew she wanted to open the cafe in the Grahamwood neighborhood, where she grew up and attended school, but getting it off the ground proved more challenging — and costly — than expected.
Some of those curveballs included investing in an expensive grease trap to satisfy code enforcement rules and obtaining a seismic letter from an engineer to certify that the building, which sits on a fault line, was safe from collapse.
“It set us back a few months and took a big chunk of our money,” Sahra says. “There were times I wanted to quit, but by then, we were already in so deep.”
Her biggest source of inspiration through the difficulties was her parents, who owned a local Mexican restaurant for 15 years and encouraged her not to give up too easily. Sahra also got advice and mentoring from Liliana Chaker, owner of Lily’s Bakery and Catering, which supplies some of the pastries for the shop, along with Primas Bakery. Family and friends helped her transform the retail space into a cafe, installing the plumbing and flooring, building the counters, and painting the walls.
Sahra has learned a lot since opening the business — including how to make coffee — but her biggest lesson has been training herself to think more “like a business owner than a student.”
“When I was looking for suppliers for our coffee, teas, and pastries, making those connections and having those business conversations was hard for me,” she says. “I had to learn how to evaluate things for myself, make decisions that were right for me, and negotiate prices.”
With a full load of classes every day of the week, balancing business ownership with school can get tricky. From her parents, she learned the importance of “showing up every day, even if nobody comes.” But for a while, she was the shop’s only team member, so there were days she had to either miss class or catch up online. While managing work and schoolwork can be a lot of pressure, she appreciates the unique opportunity to apply her coursework to a real-world setting.
“There is a lot of pressure on people my age to make money really quickly and be successful early on in life, but I think we forget to have fun in the process,” she says. “It’s okay to take risks, make mistakes, fail, and learn from it. Now is the perfect time to do that.”
As for the future, Sahra hopes to continue expanding the cafe’s menu and creating an environment where customers feel welcomed and comfortable staying a while.
“It makes me happy that people enjoy what we make for them and the hard work we put into it,” she says.
All images courtesy of Kevin Garcia.
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