Karin Gudal-Johnson

After much anticipation, co-founders Karin Gudal-Johnson and Sabrina Cox have announced Gem City Catfé willl host their grand opening on Tues, Jan 2nd in St. Anne’s Hill. You can meet the kitties, grab a coffee, and explore the upstairs art gallery!

The cafe space serving high-end espresso, tea, and delicious bakery items with a separate cat lounge. The cat lounge is home to 12 adoptable, feline friends from our 501(c)(3) non-profit rescue partner, Gem City Kitties. They also have a separate event space for activities like Yoga with Cats, Photography Classes, and workshops with local artists. All with cats, of course!

The Catfe will offer premium, unique espresso drinks, tea, assorted bottled beverages, and one of a kind, top notch, bakery items. They have partnered with:

Boston Stoker: High quality, ethically sourced coffee beans locally roasted here in Dayton.
Rachel Bakes: Custom baked, cat themed, treats. Rachel is licensed as a cottage bakery here in Dayton and will help us provide delicious vegan and gluten-free options.
Redemarrage Patisserie: Beautiful and scrumptious macarons made here in Dayton!

Guests can view the cats while enjoying their coffee in the shop through the glass walls. The cats will be separated from the coffee bar and cafe seating through a double door “airlock”.

If you’d like to enter the cat lounge- reservations are strongly suggested, as they only allow 12 guests to visit at a time to keep a comfortable environment for the kitties. Entry is $10 for non-members and $5 for members. Membership is only $25 for one year. Members may apply their discounted rate to anyone visiting with them. Read more about how to become a member or make reservations as a member by clicking here.

All of the cats in the lounge are adoptable from their rescue parter, Gem City Kitties. They follow standard rescue adoption counseling practices, we encourage you to read more about them here. Adoptions are able to be approved on the same day and you can take your new friend home with you! We recommend filling out the adoption application online in advance. Click here for the online adoption application.

Visit the Gem City Catfe:

1513 E 5TH ST, Dayton, OH 45403

Mon-Thurs: 7am – 7pm

Fri & Sat: 7am – 7pm

Sun: 10am – 6pm

Gem City Catfé is launching a Kickstarter Campaign on March 1, 2017 with a goal of $20,000 to help cover costs of starting Dayton’s cat café.

Gem City Catfé’s location at 1513 E. 5^th Street in St. Anne’s Hill is already purchased and under construction. The location boasts a full-service espresso bar with unique, premium baked goods, separate cat lounge area, and community event space. Visitors can enjoy a coffee and visit the cat lounge or watch cats play through a glass partition in the café. The upstairs event space, “The Canopy”, will be used for fantastic events with felines and private rentals.

Money raised will be used entirely for café setup with additional funds being used for furnishings, cat walks and trees, stair chair-lift for upstairs accessibility, and kitty cams. Backers can earn rewards like their name on a “Community Pawrtner” wall, early entry to the Catfé, a Kickstarter exclusive tee, Catfé membership, VIP party tickets, a private party for 12, and an Emerald Mug granting the backer a lifetime of free coffee.

“We feel Dayton is the perfect place for a locally focused organization like Gem City Catfé,” says Co-Founder, Sabrina Cox. “We’ve seen amazing support so far; people are ready to make a difference and invest in their communities.”

To celebrate the launch, the Catfé will hold a daytime party at Boston Stoker downtown at 34 W. 2^nd St. from 9:00 – 5:00 PM. The “After Dark” party from 5:00pm – 8:00pm will be held at Proto Build Bar, 534 E. 1^st St. Owners Sabrina Cox and Karin Gudal-Johnson invite the public to both events for a meet and greet and special information regarding Gem City Catfé and their Kickstarter campaign.

Gem City Catfe To Open Tuesday!

Gem City Catfé Launches Fundraiser