Help bring Catfeine to Murfreesboro

**FINAL UPDATE:  All donors please send your address for shipping your rewards no later then Wednesday, June 20th to [email redacted].  If your donation was $50 or more please include your t-shirt size.**


**Update June 1, 2018.  This campaign is now closed.  Thank you to everyone that donated!  We will be in touch within 2 weeks for rewards distribution".**

We're Curtis and Taura Byrd.  Opening a cat cafe  has been our crazy little dream for several years.  In 2017,  to gauge local interest, we launched Catfeine (Murfreesboro Cat Cafe) and watched it come to life on social media.  With tremendous support,  we were encouraged to try to make our dream a reality.  

If you're not familiar with the cat cafe concept, it started in the late 90's in Asia and has been spreading throughout the world since!  A cat cafe is the combination of two great things into one concept...the love of cats, and the love of coffee! It's a fun, cozy environment where you can enjoy local roasted coffee and yummy baked goods, and for a small cover charge you get to hang out in the company of adoptable cats from local shelters and rescue organizations.  The spaces are completely divided so that the cats are not where the food and drinks are being prepared and served. Customers can purchase time in the cat lounge (usually by the hour ) and the funds help provide this PAWsome foster envrionment for the kittes.  The first US cat cafe opened in California in 2014 and there are now over 75 open as of this year! 

Starting Catfeine has been such a rewarding experience so far, but we have faced many challenges.  For example, finding a facility that would meet our needs,  with a landlord that doesn't mind having free roaming cats in their building, was near impossible.  Believe it or not, some people don't like cats!  #sadface  

But now, after over 6 months of searching for the purrfect locaction, we've found a space just off the square in downtown Murfreesboro.  We're so close... but have encountered FAR greater cost than originally anticipated partly due to requirements for the separation of space between the cat lounge and the coffee shop.   For example,  we recently found out each area requires a separate HVAC system...and that is crazy expensive! It's basically like we're starting 2 separate businesses.

Alternatively, we may have to consider scaling back our operation to a self serve coffee bar that won't require the space be divided.  Many of the other cat cafes follow this concept. 

We honestly don't want to make compromises that would make Catfeine anything less than amazing, but we ARE going to open...even if it comes down to Kitties and K-Cups!  :-)

With your support, we can still make this happen!  


All donations to this fund will support making Catfeine the best foster environment we can for the kitties, and a really cool hang out place for you, your friends & family!  This includes everything from our build-out construction cost,  HVAC, FURniture, equipment, cat supplies, etc.... and of course "catification" of the cat lounge. Each person that donates will have their name on our donation wall, and there are cool rewards* starting at donations of $5 or more. **


We are so grateful for your support, no matter how small.   Please share with your friends and family to help us reach our goal.  While this goal may seem ambitious, it is only a small portion of what it will actually take to get the doors open. Maybe call your rich Aunt Sally that loves cats!  And if anybody knows Taylor Swift, by all means, let's ask that fellow cat lady!   ;-)

All kidding aside, your support helps us bring this awesome concept to our community and will make a difference in the lives of cats that would otherwise be homeless, or in a shelter. That's what matters most.


We look forward to seeing all of you at Catfeine when we open this summer! 

Much love,
Curtis and Taura Byrd
(and our furbabies Ringo, Gracie and Dolly)




* cat lounge passes can be given as a gift to one person, but are otherwise non transferrable.
**donations are not tax deductible

Drawing for $5-10 reward of one month pass to be held at the grand opening party.

Rewards:
Please note all rewards will be available for pickup once we open this summer.