Kattencafé Op z'n Kop

What Kattencafé Op z'n Kop does

Kattencafé Op z'n Kop is a privately held cat café operating from a single location at Oude Ebbingestraat 57 in Groningen, Netherlands, founded in February 2016 by Hielkje Wester. It was the second cat café established in the Netherlands and operates as a living-room-style café where 8-10 shelter cats sourced from Dierenasiel Adventure live permanently, with private retreat spaces and an airlock entrance system. The business serves individual cat lovers, families with children, groups of 2-10, and event attendees, with a target market of Dutch and tourist cat enthusiasts seeking feline companionship without pet ownership responsibility.

The company operates without proprietary technology, running a traditional hospitality model supplemented by an online reservation system, e-commerce merchandise storefront (opznkopstore.nl), and social media presence across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Core offerings include the café experience (coffee, tea, cakes, sandwiches), mandatory entrance fees introduced in July 2023 with personalised 12-month stamp cards for repeat visitors, High Tea/High Coffee packages from €4.50 per person add-on, holiday brunches (Easter/Christmas at €27.50 p.p.), and ticketed events (Movie Nights, Poezen Bingo, VIP Kitten Nights, private VIP arrangements from €20 per person). Revenue is diversified across F&B sales, entrance fees, events, merchandise, 2-year gift cards, and a donation programme that funds cat care including FIP treatment up to €3,000 per case.

The business is bootstrapped and self-funded, with no external investment, no subsidiaries, and no patents or trademarks disclosed. It employs 10-15 staff, primarily part-time hostesses and baristas including students, plus an owner and a business/team manager. The operational model centres on a single city-centre site with limited seating capacity, reservation-driven access (recommended for weekends and holidays), and a community-led GTM leveraging social media, gifting culture, and the cat welfare narrative. The café does not ship internationally and has no app, API, or AI/ML components; its competitive position rests on brand authenticity, shelter partnership, and community engagement rather than technology or scale.

Name

Kattencafé Op z'n Kop

Legal name

Kattencafé Op z'n Kop

Website

https://opznkop.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Kattencafé Op z'n Kop is a single-site cat café in Groningen, Netherlands (founded February 2016) where 8-10 resident shelter cats coexist with a traditional F&B café serving individual visitors, families, and small groups through entrance fees, high tea packages, events, and merchandise.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cat Café / Specialty Café Hospitality

NAICS

Snack and Nonalcoholic Beverage Bars (722515)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Cat-Only Boarding (Cattery) (HSANAHAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Cat Daycare & Cat Playcare (HSANAHAF)

Keywords

• Cat café
• Café hospitality
• Shelter cat adoption
• High tea service
• Themed events

Headquarters

HQ city

Groningen

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Entrance fees: Mandatory entrance fee charged since July 2023 to cover rising cat maintenance costs. Stamp cards available for regular visitors to guarantee the lowest entrance rate. Personalised and valid for 12 months.
2. Food and beverages: Sales of coffee, tea, cakes, sandwiches, and other beverages. Includes special options for vegan, gluten-intolerant, and lactose-intolerant customers.
3. High Tea and High Coffee packages: Reserved high tea experiences at €4.50 extra per person for high coffee or vegan options. Children's high tea available for kids under 10. Must be booked at least 24 hours in advance, minimum 2 persons.
4. Events and experiences: Special ticketed events including movie nights, cat bingo, VIP kitten nights, and holiday brunches (Easter/Christmas at €27.50 p.p. including entrance). Private VIP arrangements from €20 per person.
5. Merchandise and online store: Sale of cat-themed merchandise through physical café and online webshop (opznkopstore.nl). Products available for pickup at café to avoid shipping costs.
6. Gift cards: Gift cards sold for use on consumptions, high teas, and merchandise. Valid for two years.
7. Donations: Voluntary donations from guests to support cat care including food, litter, medical expenses, grooming, and unexpected veterinary costs. A FIP treatment for rescued cat Leo cost €2,500-3,000, funded through donations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Kattencafé Op z'n Kop operates a single-location cat café in Groningen city centre where 8-10 shelter cats from Dierenasiel Adventure live permanently. Visitors pay an entrance fee and purchase coffee, tea, food, and High Tea packages while interacting with the cats in a home-style setting. The offering is supplemented by themed events (Cat Bingo, Movie Night, VIP Private Arrangement, Holiday Brunch), gift cards, an online merchandise store, and a donation programme supporting cat care.

Product overview

Kattencafé Op z'n Kop is a cat café in Groningen, Netherlands operating since February 2016 as the second cat café in the Netherlands. The core product is the cat café experience where 8 shelter cats live permanently in a living room setting while visitors enjoy beverages, food, and interactions with the cats. The offering is a single unified café concept supplemented by multiple add-on services including High Tea/High Coffee dining experiences, holiday brunches, events (Movie Night, Cat Bingo, VIP treatments), and merchandise. A gift card system enables purchasing across all offerings. The café also accepts donations specifically designated for cat care including food, medical treatment, and grooming. The business operates an online reservation system and an e-commerce store for merchandise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cat Café Experience (entrance + food and beverages) The core offering: walk-in and reservation-based visits to the Groningen cat café where 8-10 resident shelter cats live permanently and visitors enjoy coffee, tea, cakes, sandwiches, and other beverages (with vegan, gluten-intolerant, and lactose-intolerant options). An entrance fee applies (introduced July 2023) to cover cat maintenance costs; stamp cards available for regulars.
• High Tea / High Coffee Extensive high tea service including 12 varieties of luxury tea, sweet treats, and vegetarian wrap rolls. High Coffee variant adds unlimited luxury coffees for €4.50 extra per person; Vegan High Tea variant adds vegan savoury and sweet options for €4.50 extra per person; Children's High Tea available for kids under 10 (toastie and unlimited lemonade instead of wraps/tea).
• Poezen Bingo (Cat Bingo) Multiple rounds of bingo with cat-themed prizes in which every participant receives a prize. Drinks and snacks are available to order separately during the event.
• Movie Night Film screening on a large screen inside the cat café with cats roaming the venue in the evening; popcorn included in the ticket.
• VIP Private Arrangement (including VIP Kitten Night) Private visit to the cat café with the venue exclusively reserved for the booking party. From €20 per person; groups of 2-10 persons; unlimited cat cuddles. Includes a VIP Kitten Night variant focused on playing with kittens.
• Holiday Brunch (Easter & Christmas) Festive holiday brunch experience featuring festive bread, chocolate, scones with clotted cream, and unlimited tea/juice, plus themed decorations. Easter brunch priced at €27.50 per person including entrance (€5.00 value).
• Gift Cards Gift cards valid for two years that can be redeemed for consumptions, High Tea packages, and merchandise at the café. Purchasable online and in-venue, with optional small shipping fee for delivery or free pickup at the café.
• OPZNKOP Store (Cat-themed Merchandise) Online webshop (opznkopstore.nl) and in-café store selling cat-themed merchandise and goodies. Proceeds support the resident cats as a charitable initiative. Online orders can be picked up at the café to avoid shipping costs.
• Donations for Cat Care Voluntary donation programme from guests funding cat food, litter, wet food, medication, grooming (5x per year for long-haired cats), health check-ups, vaccinations, flea/worm treatment, spay/neuter, and unforeseen medical costs (e.g. FIP treatment for rescued cat Leo costing €2,500-3,000). Used to keep the entrance fee as low as possible.

Quantifiable outcome

• 8 shelter cats provided with forever homes
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Dierenasiel AdventurecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2016Shelter partner in Kootstertille that provides cats for the café. All café cats are adopted from this shelter. The partnership also includes a cat hotel service. Shelter carefully selects cats for social temperament, compatibility with group living, and suitability as indoor cats. Some café cats (like Leo, Felix) were born in litters found and brought to the shelter.
• Dierenpension Adventure (cat hotel)minorOthersAssociated with Dierenasiel Adventure, offering cat boarding services (kattenhotel). Contact information provided for cat adoption inquiries.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cat Town Cafe: Cat café and adoption-focused lounge in Oakland, California. Operates the same shelter-cat + café hybrid model with paid entry, beverages, and adoption programming, serving as a US reference point for the format.
• Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium: One of Europe's longest-running and most prominent cat cafés, based in London. Comparable as an established, multi-experience cat café with food, beverages, events, and a charitable shelter-cat mission.
• Crumbs & Whiskers: Cat café chain (with locations in the US) offering the same paid-entry, beverage-and-cat-companionship model. Comparable as a multi-format cat café operator targeting urban experience-seeking consumers.
• Katten Brasserie Sam & Moos: Cat-focused brasserie in Assen, Netherlands (referenced in Op z'n Kop's own team data as a previous employer). Operates a comparable concept combining a restaurant setting with resident cats in a Dutch regional market.
• Kattencafé Kopjes: The first cat café in the Netherlands, located in Amsterdam. Direct peer offering the same cat-and-café hybrid model with shelter cats, food and beverages, and paid entrance in the same national market.

Regional players

• Poezenboot (Cat Boat): Amsterdam-based floating cat sanctuary and visitor attraction. Operates a Dutch cat-welfare tourism concept that overlaps with Op z'n Kop's shelter-cat positioning, though without a café revenue model.

Emerging players

• Neko Café (various operators): Japanese-origin cat café operators (such as Nekobiyaka in Taipei and Cat Café Neko at various locations) pioneered the resident-cat café concept globally. Comparable as direct concept progenitors whose format Op z'n Kop replicates at smaller regional scale.

Others

• Dierenasiel Adventure: Shelter partner in Kootstertille that supplies all resident cats and operates a related cat hotel. Comparable as the upstream supplier of the café's central product (the cats) and a partnership-driven affiliate in the same cat welfare ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/kattencafeopznkop
• Instagraminstagram.com/kattencafe_opznkop
• TikToktiktok.com/@kattencafe_opznkop
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kattencafeopznkop

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

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 Kattencafé Op z'n Kop