Food & Drink
Grab a coffee and adopt a furry friend at LanCATster Cat Cafe
Whether you stop in for a treat or schedule an appointment to meet their adoptable cats, the cafe is a cozy place open to all.
LanCATster Cat Cafe is the city’s coziest spot for cat lovers.
While on a trip to San Francisco, owner Jax Lanza missed her three kittens back home. After a quick Google search, she found a nearby cat cafe and fell in love with the concept. Partnering with District Court Judge and fellow cat lover John Bender, Jax created Lancaster’s first cat cafe, designed with accessibility and inclusivity in mind.
“This is a safe place for anyone marginalized and for the queer community,” Jax shared. “We need more spaces where people feel like we can be ourselves.”
The community rallied around Jax and John, donating to the first wave of renovations which made the city building more accessible by widening doorways and upgrading amenities. “We had thousands of people waiting for us to open,” Jax said. “Everyone showed up as a community so, so beautifully.”
At LanCATster Cat Cafe, guests can book a time to hang out with resident cats being fostered from the Columbia Animal Shelter and ORCA.
“I wanted all the cats to be adoptable,” Jax said. “This is a very homey space where people get to see their real personalities.” In the first two months of the shop’s opening, 14 cats were adopted by cafe visitors.
The cafe space, which is separate from where the cats roam free, includes both coffee and sweets for purchase. When choosing purveyors, Jax partnered with Kitty Town Coffee, a coffee roaster based in Lebanon, and Made With Love, Not Gluten, a gluten-free bakery based in Mount Joy—both
woman-owned companies.
“That’s another accessibility piece that was important to me. I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy our snacks as well,” Jax said.
Each month, the cafe showcases a rotating selection of work by local artists and features a permanent mural by Elliot Rodriguez, depicting 150 local cats owned by the Lancaster community who helped the cafe open its doors.
Grab a coffee and book a time to meet the cats of LanCATster Cat Cafe.
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