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Brieanna Rekow ’21 opened Cats and Caffeine in 2022 to fill a certain kitten-shaped hole in South Tampa’s small business market.

Now, Cats and Caffeine is a cat lounge that houses 16-20 cats at a time for visitors to cuddle, play with and potentially adopt while offering a full coffee and tea bar and snacks.

If you couldn’t guess, Rekow is a major cat lover. She has six of her own fur babies, and often is fostering several more taken in by the rescue organization Cat Lovers Inc. After they’re spayed or neutered, vaccinated and nurtured, they move to Cats and Caffeine to go up for adoption.

The idea came about when Rekow visited California’s Bay Area, which has “cat cafés all over,” she said, in her junior year at UTampa. By senior year, she was enrolled in the Spartan Accelerator program to develop the first cat café in Tampa. Right before graduating, she won the Best Service award at the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center’s New Venture Expo.

Despite being motivated, her ambitious idea and still-fresh bachelor’s degree made for a tough pitch to potential landlords. “I mean, I have a baby face,” Rekow admitted. “Then the concept itself was really difficult for people to understand.”

After her persistence finally secured a space on Henderson Boulevard, Rekow wanted to support other local entrepreneurs, especially fellow alums. The cat café’s initial marketing was handled by Lindsey Marzo ’21, and the artwork adorning the café’s interior was done by Bianca Burrows ’12. The café has its own Blind Tiger coffee blend; the baked goods are from nearby vendors; and local yoga and Pilates instructors hold group fitness events at the café (yes, kitten yoga is a thing).

The response from the community has exceeded Rekow’s expectations. “What blows my mind is that we have people coming all the way from places like Zephyrhills and Sarasota,” she said. 

After two years in business, more than 350 kittens have been adopted into their furever homes.

While Rekow is officially in charge, she counts on her co-captain, Sam, to keep the kitties in check.

“He runs that place,” said Rekow. Sam is the café’s “house cat,” a 3-year-old Maine coon that was surrendered to Cat Lovers Inc. shortly before the café opened. He’s a permanent resident of the café and takes his job seriously, which includes sniffing out new kittens, breaking up fights and bathing the young.

Between the email inboxes and the litter boxes, Rekow has her hands (paws?) full. “I’ve owned being the crazy cat lady,” she said as a black kitty slinks by, while a tabby rests in her lap.