Kanchan Singh (C&W Founder) has always loved animals. Growing up in Los Angeles she would feed stray animals, volunteer for rescue organizations and even created a college club named Terps for Animal Welfare, the first of its kind. Kanchan learned a lot about the rescue community and the challenges faced by animal welfare non-profits, as well as the non-profit sector in general. Through volunteering at shelters, Kanchan also saw the challenges such as lack of funding, lack of facilities, etc. faced by local rescues as well as the challenges faced by cats spending their lives caged in a shelter environment. Armed with a business degree, Kanchan saw the opportunity to solve a lot of the problems she was seeing in non-profits and the rescue community through social entrepreneurship and social innovation instead.
Ever since Kanchan learned what a social entrepreneur was, she knew that's who she wanted to be. Kanchan always found business to be fascinating and she had always loved animals, so finding a way to combine those two things was her dream. Crumbs & Whiskers was born when she happened upon a cat cafe in Chiang Mai, Thailand on her 24th birthday. It was one of the coolest, quirkiest, and happiest experiences of she life - being surrounded by cats and drinking her favorite matcha drink - and she immediately knew that she had found her dream project. So she quit her job and set off to create Crumbs & Whiskers. At C&W, the purpose is to help animals and to make people really happy, which is actually her personal purpose in life as well. Ultimately, the desire to live her life staying true to her purpose and the desire to help animals through business is what drove her to work at the intersection of animal welfare and the service industry.
Usually, people who want to adopt a cat visit shelters, where they report feeling guilty, overwhelmed, and stressed because there are so many cats in cages desperately seeking their attention. At Crumbs & Whiskers, cats freely roam the space and receive human interaction all day long. Cats spend their days cuddling, playing, exploring, and napping in a home-like setting. This allows cats to relax and let their true personalities show. When meeting the cats, instead of feeling overwhelmed or guilty, guests feel inspired and happy, and are able to make adoption decisions based on cats’ personalities and whether our cats are a good fit for their homes. We are completely changing the environment in which potential adopters interact with their forever feline by providing an avenue for them to truly form a deep, meaningful human-animal bond.
About the cafe:
Located in the heart of Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, guests first learn about C&W’s mission and C&W’s social impact: that all the cats were saved from euthanasia and up for adoption, how life at C&W is different (and better) for the cats than life at a shelter and finally they learn how their visit and contribution supports these efforts and go towards the greater impact. Next, they are being constantly engaged by our cats and our hosts. Guests receive thorough guided assistance on everything from choosing a toy for a cat, their drinks and nibbles being delivered to them, to capturing a perfect photo in a Polaroid moment. Guests receive constant attention and have their needs met without having to ask. After their 70 minute experience is over, Guests leave feeling inspired, warm, fuzzy, and really good about their decision to come to C&W and adopt!
We imagine a world where no animal dies just because shelters are out of space and where every human experiences the happiness and magic of falling in love with an animal. In 5 years, we see more locations being opened and working with new shelters in order to save more cats from euthanasia. C&W is actively being a voice to the voiceless and having saved over 7,000 cats!
We encourage everyone to be active in their communities. Volunteer at shelters and don't turn a blind eye to the thousands of stray cats. Open your homes to fostering stray cats until they find their forever home. If you are able to, adopt from shelters in order to have a significant part in lowering euthanasia rates. Of course, you are always welcome to visit the café and adopting our very own cats into your homes.
How to visit:
To visit the café, guests can make their reservation here. Advance bookings are highly recommended. We limit the number of guests in our space to ensure the health, safety, and comfort of our cats. Walk-in guests are still welcome but space may be not be available for a given time frame. Each experience is 70 minutes, the perfect amount of time to relax with a room full of rescue cats, drink your favorite latte, and adopt your new best friend.
We do ask for a minimum contribution of $22. We are making a contribution to our cats and thanks to your contribution, we are able to continue operations and not only save more cats, but also give those cats a happy, healthy, beautiful life after we save them. Our current hours of operation are 11-7:45p everyday except Wednesdays. On Wednesdays our café is closed.
