A couple months ago, a sign reading “Sam’s Badass Cat Café” emerged in front of a vacant building in Mid City. On its Facebook page, the cafe describes itself as an up-and-coming spot to hang out with cats and eat scones.
Cat cafes, where patrons can relax and enjoy the company of a dozen or so foster cats, have taken the world by storm in recent years. Hundreds of cafes have opened internationally, including nearby in New Orleans.
Baton Rouge’s own enigmatic cat café quickly attracted more than 340 follows and several recommendations and reviews on its Facebook page. Sam’s seemed not only well on its way to becoming Baton Rouge’s first cat café, but one of its most buzzworthy new businesses.
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There is only one problem: It’s not real.
We dug our paws deep into the mystery and found the man and woman behind the cat-hair-covered curtain. What may have started as a joke between coworkers just might help the local Cat Haven achieve its own dreams of a real cat café.
Read on for the full story from our September issue.