Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Otterstrom.
Hi Christine , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I (Christine) have many years of barista experience and helping stray cats. The other owner (Jenny Wilcox) has many years of baking experience under her belt. I was working at and doing fieldwork for the Natural History Museum of Utah when Jenny asked me if I’d like to be her business partner in opening a cat cafe in Ogden. I took a little time to think about it, since I knew it would be a big career change from what I went to college for, then decided that it would be a fun and rewarding adventure!
Jenny was the baker at Grounds For Coffee on 25th street for many years. Anyone who tried the food there during that time knows how talented Jenny is and how delicious her baking is. I worked as a barista at the same shop for multiple years, on and off. This is where we met and became good friends.
Overall, the process of opening our cafe took nearly 2 years. We started with a Kickstarter that included lots of marketing to promote it. This was great for being able to afford to sign a lease on our building, as well as gauge interest in the community. After that, we did almost all of the renovations on our space ourselves, which, even though the original overall layout of the building was basically perfect for us, took a lot of time and labor.
We were finally able to open last November on the 1st.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Neither Jenny or I have ever owned a business, so pretty much everything has been a learning experience for us. The health department and city weren’t quite sure how to handle a cat cafe at first, but thankfully they were understanding as we all worked it out together.
Money is also a tricky thing with starting a business. Basically everything costs more than one might originally think, including commercial equipment. Some of the things we had to purchase were also affected by supply chain and tariff issues.
As you know, we’re big fans of The House Cat. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a full coffee shop and bakery, with cats! All of our cats are fostered from the Weber County Animal Shelter and live in our cat lounge until they get adopted. We charge a small fee to enter the cat lounge and that helps us pay for anything that the cats need while they are here. We have had around 55 cat adoption already so far!
Our coffee is freshly roasted in Ogden by Coffee Links. This was an easy decision because we both love their coffee. We also love supporting an immigrant family owned business, and it helps that they’re all very kind and likeable. If you’re uncertain what drink to order, we have multiple house drink specials that we thoughtfully developed and named after our own cats! You can’t lose with any of those.
We also offer a variety of house-made foods that are made from Jenny’s personal recipes. Some of the things we serve are fruit and cream pies, a variety of cakes (including tiramisu), quiches, breakfast burritos, brownies, and peanut butter bars. We also have special monthly drinks that are often made with our own homemade syrups.
We offer a variety of cute cat retail and merchandise, including multiple items made by local crafters and artists. We hope to add more locally made products in the future.
We’re also big proponents for the arts. We are part of the First Friday Art Stoll each month and have hosted multiple classes at our cafe, including paint nights and other crafting events. We even have a weekly Crafting with Cats gathering every Thursday night from 6:00 to 7:30. Attendees bring a small craft of their choice to work on, or we offer a few needlepoint projects for purchase in shop. Anyone interested in learning more or signing up for any of our events can find more info at our website www.thehousecatcafe.com, and under the “events” tab.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
The love for and overall community interest in helping stray cats!
Pricing:
- 1/2 hour in the cat lounge for adults and kids $5
- 1 hour in the cat lounge for adults $9
- 1 hour in the cat lounge for kids (under 12) $7
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thehousecatcafe.com
- Instagram: Thehousecat_cafe
- Facebook: The House Cat
