Le Café Des Chats

Youssef Labib has always been a lover of animals. Since he was young, he adored cats, dogs, fish and turtles. At the age of six he found a stray cat and took him in. "Bicha" was his first cat, and just one of many he'd help throughout the years.

As an adult, after his graduate studies in marketing and management in Paris, he came to Canada for a simpler life. He dreamed of combining his love of animals with a small business. Inspired by cat cafés, which already existed in Japan, he began to wonder if the idea would work in Canada. Youssef used his marketing knowledge to conduct market surveys and found “the response was immediately positive. People loved the idea. I got going on the business plan."

A chance meeting in a coffee shop helped him find the perfect manager for the café. Nadine had worked in sales and management and was looking for something different. They found an available space on a bustling stretch of St. Denis Street and brought the idea to fruition with his business acumen and her creativity.

Some issues with construction delayed the launch, but that didn't slow the buzz. Before it opened its doors, Cat Café had been covered by a long list of local media outlets.