While meeting for their weekly coffee, former emergency veterinary technicians and Sun Prairie residents Liz Brey and Heather Wipijewski joked about opening their own cat cafe. After years of work, the duo is weeks away from making that dream a reality.
With a project that allowed them to still work with animals and better their community while serving delectable coffee, a passion the two share, they decided to shift their sights to a calmer environment.
Cat cafes are on the rise, spreading from large cities to suburban areas. A cafe where guests can interact with cats, they often partner with local animal shelters so visitors can meet the animals up for adoption in hopes of finding them a forever home.
After retiring from the medical field in 2021, Brey decided to work in a cafe, a position she found much more relaxing than her veterinary technician work.
“The work got more difficult as I got older,” Brey told The Daily Cardinal. “It got more stressful after the COVID-19 pandemic.”
When Wipijewski retired from the hospital a year later, the pair realized opening a cat cafe “was more than a joke,” Brey said.
Just like that, The Cat’s Brew was born.
As part of their business venture, Brey and Wipijewski visited existing cat cafes in 2022 to see how they conducted business and to build connections.
“We used the opportunity to learn things that would work well in our cafe with our own spin: from checking people into the cat lounge, to menu, to layout of cafe versus cat lounge,” Wipijewski said.
After building a solid foundation of knowledge, they hired a contractor and construction team to remodel the building and complete the cafe.
Building a community in Sun Prairie
For Brey and Wipijewski, opening The Cat’s Brew is not the final goal. After working with animals and their owners only in emergency situations, they did not get to see the community at its best, Brey said. With The Cat’s Brew, they hope their interactions will change for the better and create a welcome, open and positive environment for all people.
The cafe is designed to be able to exist as a separate entity from the shelter. A person allergic to cats can lounge with a delicious drink or play board games and read books provided by the cafe. Brey and Wipijewski encourage guests to stay a while.
“We want to get to know the people in our community,” Brey said.
Brey and Wipijewski are just as committed to their cats. Their other major goal is to help find cats “forever homes,” Brey said. After staying for a few weeks at Little Orphans Animal Rescue, a partnered animal shelter, cats with the potential to thrive in the cafe’s environment will be sent to The Cat’s Brew.
Brey and Wipijewski will continue to monitor the cats’ behavior after their move to make sure they feel comfortable and safe, they said. The owners will have at most nine cats in their cafe, allowing them to develop personal relationships with their felines, another aspect of the project they are anxious for, Brey said.
“The city regulates the amount of animals you can have based on square footage, so we can have up to nine cats at once,” Wipijewski said. “Owning a business and being responsible for everything is a stressful process. It’s a big undertaking, and it’s all new to us.”
But the two are pushing through all the difficulties they’ve come across to finally make their lifelong dream a reality.
“I’m a cat lady, so that’s my excuse [to work with cats],” Brey said. “It’s a dream come true to open this cafe and continue to help rescue them.”
The Cat’s Brew doesn’t have an opening date yet, but Brey and Wipijewski are aiming for mid-September and will announce it on social media (Instagram, Facebook).
Mar McKenna is a writer for the Features desk and College News. They are a Philosophy major and a published author. Follow them on Instagram @marmck_writing.
