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Chicago Cat Cafe Getting Custom Coffee From Animal-Loving Roaster

By Linze Rice | June 2, 2015 6:01am | Updated on June 5, 2015 10:24am
 The new facility will include a cat patio, cat'fe' lounge and an education center. 
Tree House Cat Shelter Upgrades
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WEST RIDGE — Tree House Humane Society breaks ground Tuesday for its $7 million no-kill cat "community center" in its new West Ridge digs, complete with a nearly signed partnership for organic, fair-trade coffee. 

Jordan Karcher, founder of Grounds and Hounds — a small-batch coffee brewing company that splits its profits with animal shelters — was put in touch with Tree House reps by a mutual friend after a DNAinfo Chicago story on the new West Ridge shelter in March

Karcher said he knew right away his company and Tree House had "perfectly aligned" values.

"We're really excited on our end," Karcher said. "We're always focused on trying to work with people making the greatest impact for animal welfare. It's just integrating a really important cause and a really passionate cause into the lifestyle of Chicago citizens." 

 A rendering of the back two rooms of a three-room chamber, where guests and potential adopters can spend time bonding with the cats while enjoying some java.
A rendering of the back two rooms of a three-room chamber, where guests and potential adopters can spend time bonding with the cats while enjoying some java.
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Tree House Humane Society

Jenny Schlueter, director of development at Tree House, said while they're still working out the final kinks to the deal, the pair are very close to signing a contract that would allow Karcher's company to provide coffee, equipment and barista training to the shelter at no cost. In exchange, the shelter's cat café will exclusively sell Grounds and Hounds' coffee — roasted in small batches in Minneapolis — and get to keep 20 percent of everything they sell in the shelter. 

Karcher  "did some research and noticed that any kind of business that tries to provide profits to animal welfare organizations, a lot of times they're kind of one-use items," Schlueter said. That, combined with more than 80 percent of coffee-loving Americans estimated to drink at least a cup daily, made for a serendipitous relationship between a shelter looking for a café, and vice versa. 

Karcher will also serve as a design consultant, helping Tree House shape the ambiance and overall atmosphere to the shop so both the casual visitor and serious potential adopter can enjoy the establishment, which will be facing Western Avenue along the building's first floor.

Schlueter said new renderings are in the works, but the designated building will be separated into three rooms: the first where patrons can buy coffee and the other two where they can visit with cats and sip on their brew. The two visiting rooms would be approximately 300 square feet combined, with the café sitting at just over half that size. 

She said in new designs, there is a separate entrance so people can visit the café from off the street without ever having to enter the building's main vestibule. Others may sit in the adjacent 430-square-foot waiting area and main lobby.

 

The pink areas labeled "Feature Cat Room" are where the cat café and visiting rooms will most likely go, along Western Avenue. [DNAinfo/Tree House Humane Society]

The goal for the feel of the shop is to be "serene, relaxing and calm," Karcher said, saying one potential idea could be to utilize the more individual style of brewing known as "pour over."

Schlueter said one of the most frequent questions she gets about the shelter is from cat owners wondering if they can bring in their own feline friend from home. Unfortunately, she said, because of the potential for a high-stress situation for a visiting cat, and the ultimate goal of placing adoptable cats in new homes, customers' furry companions will have to wait, or participate in one of their "kitty kindergarten" sessions. 

"It's amazing how many people want to do that," she chuckled. "You know, cats should be properly introduced and have an acclimation period. The idea too is that [the café] is for people to spend time with those kitties who don't have a home and a special person."

So far, Schlueter said the response to the shelter and cat café, which has sat at its original Uptown location at 1212 W. Carmen Ave. since 1975, has been overwhelmingly positive. The city and local officials, she said, have been especially cooperative when it has come to getting the proper permits. 

Earlier this year, Tree House announced plans to open the multimillion dollar shelter, complete with a dog and cat veterinary clinic, low-cost spay and neuter program, cat adoption shelter, education center and multiple programs to assist pet owners at low to no costs. 

It was the exact type of organization that Karcher said he wanted to be affiliated with because of his deep passion and commitment to rescue groups, he said. 

Karcher, who adopted his dog Molly before working his way through business school, said, "People are just so passionate and focused about trying to make the city into a no-kill vicinity, and working with Tree House, they have the same goals in mind and a really actionable plan."

His business launched online in 2014 and later began experimenting with Grounds and Hounds pop-up shops.

With Tree House, they could soon be seeing their very first brick-and-mortar venture as the city's first cat café.

"They're out there focusing on the core issues," Karcher said. "I think the key to this whole thing is to conducive environment for someone to enjoy their coffee, and enjoy their time with a cat who's looking for their forever home."

An exterior rendering of what the front of the new building will look like, at 7225 N. Western Ave. in West Rogers Park. [DNAinfo/Tree House Humane Society]

The front lobby of the new facility. [DNAinfo/Tree House Humane Society]

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