Kitty Café

What Kitty Café does

Kitty Café is a privately-held UK hospitality operator running a chain of three purpose-built cat cafés in Nottingham (Friar Lane), Leeds (Kirkgate), and Birmingham (Grand Central). Each site delivers a one-hour, slot-based experience in which guests pay an entry fee (£8 standard, £9 on weekends and bank/school holidays for adults; £7 for children) plus a mandatory welfare surcharge (£8 per adult, £6 per child) to interact with rescue cats in a feline-optimised environment featuring open space, kitty toys, and comfortable seating for visitors. The core product combines food and beverage service with the cat interaction experience, anchored by an online advance booking system on kittycafe.co.uk and supported by ancillary streams including an online merchandise shop (kittycafeshop.co.uk), digital gift vouchers via VoucherCart, and printable children's activities.

The business operates a horizontal go-to-market targeting UK consumers (families, individuals, and animal enthusiasts) directly through its physical footprints and digital storefronts, with no enterprise/B2B channel disclosed. The tech stack is intentionally lightweight, relying on ClubManagerCentral for membership management (Kitty Club, currently paused) and VoucherCart for gift vouchers; there is no proprietary software, mobile app, or disclosed API. A linked rescue operation — Kitty Cafe Rescue (kittycaferescue.org) — is embedded into the brand narrative, framing cats on-site as adoption candidates and supporting welfare outcomes as a core differentiator rather than a pure retail play.

Revenue is generated through four streams: entry and booking fees, on-site food and beverage sales, e-commerce merchandise, and gift voucher sales; membership recurring revenue is currently inactive. Pricing is unit-based with modest demand-based uplift on peak days, and the welfare charge is structured as a non-optional add-on bundled with every ticket. Headcount is reported in the 51-100 range, consistent with three multi-shift retail sites each requiring front-of-house, kitchen, and animal-care staffing; no funding rounds, ownership structure, audited financials, or revenue figures are disclosed in the available sources.

Name

Kitty Café

Legal name

Kitty Café

Website

https://kittycafe.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Kitty Café is a UK cat café chain operating three pay-per-hour feline interaction venues in Nottingham, Leeds, and Birmingham, combining café food and drink with rescue cat adoptions via its linked Kitty Cafe Rescue charity.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cat Café Hospitality

NAICS

Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251), Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)

akta.pro primary industry

Cafe-Bakeries (Coffee + Pastry Focus) (THAFADAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Overnight Cattery Boarding (Cats) (HSANADAB)

Keywords

• Cat café experience
• Animal interaction hospitality
• Cat rescue services
• Pet-friendly leisure venues
• Café food and beverage

Headquarters

HQ city

Nottingham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Entry Fees and Hourly Bookings: Customers pay hourly entry fees to visit the café and interact with cats. Weekend and bank holiday pricing is £9 for adults, £7 for children. Standard pricing is £8 for adults, £7 for children. Additional welfare charge of £8 per adult and £6 per child applies to all bookings.
2. Food and Beverage Sales: On-site food and drink sales including fresh food and various beverage options served at the café
3. Merchandise Shop: Online shop selling Kitty Café branded merchandise and gift vouchers at kittycafeshop.co.uk
4. Gift Vouchers: Digital gift vouchers sold online for use at any Kitty Café location

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Kitty Café operates a chain of physical cat cafés in the UK where visitors pay an hourly entry fee (with a mandatory welfare charge) to spend time interacting with rescue cats in a purpose-designed space, while purchasing food and drinks on site. The cafés are supported by an integrated cat rescue operation (Kitty Cafe Rescue) that rehomes cats and supplies them to the cafés, and the business also sells branded merchandise and digital gift vouchers online through its own storefronts.

Product overview

Kitty Café operates as a cat café chain with three UK locations (Nottingham, Leeds, Birmingham), combining feline interaction experiences with food service. The core offering is the Cat Café Experience, where visitors pay an entry fee to spend time with rescue cats in a specially designed space. The business integrates charitable activities through its associated Kitty Rescue operation. Additional revenue streams include an online shop, gift vouchers, and a (currently paused) loyalty program. The café operates a booking system requiring advance reservations for one-hour sessions, with separate pricing for adults and children and a welfare charge to support cat care.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Kitty Cafe Rescue: Cat rescue operation and shelter run by the company
• Kitty Club

Products and services

• Cat Café Experience Hourly, pre-booked visits to a feline-optimised café space where guests interact with rescue cats while enjoying on-site seating and service. Available at Nottingham, Leeds, and Birmingham locations.
• Food & Drink Service On-site sale of fresh food and a range of beverages served to café visitors during their booked session at any of the three UK locations.
• Gift Vouchers Digital gift vouchers purchased online that can be redeemed for a cat café visit at any Kitty Café UK location.
• Branded Online Shop E-commerce store selling Kitty Café branded merchandise, operated online independently of the physical cafés.
• Kitty Club Membership Subscription-style loyalty programme offering perks and discounts for regular visitors to Kitty Café locations. Currently paused and not accepting new members.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Kitty Cafe RescuecoreOthersLinked rescue organization operating at kittycaferescue.org. Kitty Café supports cat rescue operations as part of its mission, with cats at the cafés available for adoption through the rescue programme.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Costa Coffee: UK coffee-led chain with extensive high-street presence serving coffee, food and beverages — a broad incumbent providing a benchmark for UK café unit economics and operations.
• Caffè Nero: Established UK café chain with hundreds of high-street locations serving coffee and food — a broad incumbent overlapping the foodservice category but lacking the cat-café differentiator.

Others

• Cats Protection: UK's largest cat welfare charity focused on rehoming and education — adjacent to Kitty Café's rescue mission, useful as a benchmark for cat-welfare reputation and adoption funnel credibility, but without commercial café operations.
• Battersea Dogs & Cats Home: Major UK animal rescue and rehoming charity — comparable to the welfare/adoption mission embedded in Kitty Café's rescue operations, although operating at much larger scale and without commercial foodservice.

Direct peers

• Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium: London-based pioneer UK cat café (opened 2014) offering hourly bookings, food and beverage service, and cat interaction — directly comparable to Kitty Café's format and target customer.
• The Cat Lounge: UK cat café offering cat interaction and café refreshments on a booked-session basis — directly comparable to Kitty Café's hourly entry, F&B, and rescue-cat experience.
• Maison de Mog: Independent UK cat café offering hour-based bookings, F&B service, and cat interaction experiences — directly comparable to Kitty Café's operating model within the same niche.
• Cat Café Manchester: UK cat café selling hourly entries, food and drinks in a feline-interaction setting — directly comparable to Kitty Café's three-city UK model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/KittyCafeUK1
• Facebookfacebook.com/KittyCafeUK

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kitty Café