Thomas Leidner, owner of the Katzentempel cafe, shows off one of the establishment’s impressive felines. Customers are encouraged to stroke and cuddle the cats while enjoying a refreshing drink.
By Elena Zelle
Sipping coffee and relaxing with a cat is something most cat owners only do in the confines of their home. But now an enterprising businessman in Munich has opened a café with four resident cats that patrons can call their own.
Thomas Leidner opened “Katzentempel” (Cats Temple) in May with toys to amuse the cats and padded shelving where they can relax and sleep.
Leidner serves vegetarian food only.
Special hygiene rules have to be observed, says Daniela Schlegel from Munich’s local authority. Meals are served with individual covers to prevent cat hairs from getting on the plate. The kitchen is strictly isolated from the rest of the café where the cats reside. Food and drinks are passed through a small hatch into the sitting area.
Food is not allowed to be stored or prepared in the café, which explains why there are no cold drinks nor a coffee machine. Everything the café’s patrons eat or drink comes from a cat-free zone: the kitchen. There are separate entrances for kitchen and service personnel.
Schlegel says the health safety authority is impressed by how Katzentempel is implementing its hygiene rules. Leidner is also in charge of making sure the resident cats are properly cared for. The cats have a place they can withdraw to, they have there own sleeping spots, a cat toilet and places where they can scratch their claws.
“The café has been conceived in a 3-dimensional manner: cats like to look down on things sometimes,” says Schlegel. The cats never eat scraps from the kitchen and are always provided with proper cat food.
Even the cafe’s entrance has been designed with the cats’ welfare in mind. The cats are not allowed outside due to traffic so guests have to pass through two sets of doors to get in.
“The café’s owner made his own suggestions on how the place should take care of the cats. He’s very concerned with keeping the cats in a proper manner,” says Schlegel.
Leidner was inspired to open the café last year when he visited Vienna where there’s also a cat café. He quickly began the job of working his way through Munich’s officialdom. Hygiene and animal welfare concerns were uppermost. “It’s been very tough but everyone was very fair,” says Leidner.
Leidner’s previous job was as a stockbroker. The 30-year-old says he could not continue his career due to ethical reasons. He has been active in animal welfare for a long time and with this in mind Leidner decided to have only four cats in the cafe. He also set up rules for patrons to follow. “Sometimes parents bring their kids here because they think it’s a kind of children’s zoo,” says Leidner. Photographs are not allowed to be taken with a flash, sleeping cats may not be woken or touched and no-one is allowed to put their feet with shoes on the chairs.
“Actually it’s really the humans who are guests of the cats,” he says. “I built the café up around them.” — DPA
