JeanLuc can not rest.
OK, that’s not technically true because I am still getting a good 20 hours of sleep per day, but the remaining 4 hours are filled with paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork! Very little time to bathe or play. I have at least 3 catnip toys that now have a thin layer of dust, because I just haven’t had a chance to play with them!
People (and cats) think that opening a Cat Café is easy-peasy, but to be honest, it’s not. It’s a lot of work, and although for me it is a labor of love, it’s still labor. Not like the actual labor of having kittens (I don’t know what that’s like, but I have heard) but a labor nonetheless.
When I’m not working with State and Local Authorities, I am fielding dozens of emails from eager fans wanting to know when we are opening.
To be honest, I would like to know when we are opening too!
Here is where we stand right now. Our architectural team has submitted our plans to the reviewers at Lake County. They had some questions, which we answered, and now we are (patiently) awaiting our approval so that we can start actually using hammers and nails and other cool tools that make a lot of noise to do our interior buildout. Our team expected to hear back from the County with our approval on Monday…then yesterday….and now today.
We have a great contractor all lined up who tells us that they know exactly how to use those tools to build us a really cool café with toys and perches and even a separate room for our litterboxes (gotta have privacy!). The contractor says he can have us up and running in 60-90 days. That’s like 4 years in cat years, but whatever.
While we are doing this, we are also getting our paperwork (paperwork, and more paperwork) ready to submit to the State of Florida, Department of Hotels and Restaurants so that they can give us their blessing as well.
I’m telling you — this is hard work. When I first took this job I really did for the cool red sunglasses and the chance to be on T.V. , but now that I am “in” I gotta say, I’m pretty tired and a tad frustrated. Not “hiss” level frustrated, but maybe a low growl and some intense tail swishing. You get the picture.
I know in the end it will all be worth it because it will be cool (remember, the Orlando Cat Café is where all the cool cats hang out — including JeanLuc!) and also because so many of my feline friends will be matched up with their forever families and find their forever homes.
In the meantime though, it feels like our approval process is taking FOREVER!
