About Us
​Emily and Liz are two sisters from Northern Rhode Island whose love for coffee and cats have taken over their worlds.
Who?
Emily has been a teacher at a public school for 20 years. She went and received multiple degrees from Rhode Island College and Lesley University and then taught math to middle schoolers for those two decades following. Emily is an avid cat lover. She volunteers at a local animal shelter, specifically in the cat area caring and tending to the adorable felines. She is the older sister to Liz.​
Liz is the pastry chef at a well-known retirement community in Rhode Island. She went to Johnson & Wales University to study Culinary Arts and left with a Bachelors Degree in Food Service Management. Liz has always wanted to open her own cafe. Her love of fresh baked pastries and the smell of freshly brewed coffee always called to her. Liz also wanted a family and decided to conquer that goal first while gaining more experience in kitchens and food service establishments.
In 2021, after things with COVID were starting to die down, Emily and Liz were on a trip to North Carolina for their aunt’s wedding. Liz was in charge of picking up the wedding cake (no stress!). Emily and their sister-in-law tagged along for support. In the car, Emily brought up wanting a career change. She mentioned her love for cats and the idea of a cat cafe piqued her interest. Not having any knowledge of food service or coffee, she asked Liz if she’d be interested.
She said “Yes!” It made perfect sense. Two sisters, one who knows how to care for the purr-fect felines and the other who knows how to make delicious pastries and coffee. The older sister who is realistic, responsible, and thorough and the younger sister who is a dreamer, planner and people-person. Yin yang. If they could put their two heads together, anything would be possible! They both decided that they would take a few years to work on their careers and when the time was right, they would go for it.
Fast forward to summer 2025 and the sisters are in full swing of making their dreams come true. The Black Cat Cafe is now registered in the state of RI. They are working with the SBDC (Small Business Development Center) and need your help!
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What?
What’s a cat cafe? A cat cafe is a coffeehouse that houses, fosters and cares for cats who need loving homes. The first cat cafe opened in Taiwan 24 years ago, in 1998. At the time, the community in Taiwan did not allow for these animals to live in most houses or apartments. Thus, the idea to allow these animals to hang out with humans in a cafe was sparked. The idea traveled around the world and today, the US has “nearly 300 cat cafes” that allow these beautiful animals to be adopted by humans who need their love and cuddles. (Information found at TheCatLife.com and Guinness World Record’s website)
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Where?
TBD.
The Black Cat Cafe is currently on the look out for a good location to open.
Areas that are being considered are Warwick, Scituate, Glocester, and Lincoln.
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Why?
Rescues caring for cats are constantly at capacity. Though the cafe is not a rescue itself, helping out the existing rescues is the goal. The cafe would foster cats who need to be adopted and allow the public to come sit and get to know these felines in the comfort of a coffeehouse. Helping these beautiful creatures get adopted is the main goal and helping the community meet these creatures is how.
How?
The coffeehouse will have two separate areas that are connected by a double door system. Per health department rules, there are not to be any animals in the area where food and drinks are produced or stored. The cafe side will have from-scratch pastries and freshly brewed coffee. There will be plenty of seating to relax for everyone (even those who don’t like cats).
Once you are ready to visit with the cats, there will be a door with a small room where you can take off your shoes or put on slippers (for health reasons for the cats). Once your feet have been properly covered, you will go through another door where the room housing all of the adorable adoptable cats and kittens will be. This is their home. This is their safe space. It will be full with toys, beds, climbing activities, things to scratch and places to hide. You can sit with them, play with them, pet them and comfort them, or they may comfort you.
If you fall in love with one (which will be pretty hard not to), you can fill out an application through the local rescue’s website.