Today we’d like to introduce you to Inga Carey.
Inga, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve always loved cats; and it’s a love that my mom and I shared. When she passed away in 2020 I wanted to do something to honor her and do something good for my community. I began researching the idea of a cat cafe on Christmas of 2022, There were two at the time in Charlotte, but I saw the need for one in upstate South Carolina where you could avoid Charlotte traffic. I ended up visiting 54 cat cafes before opening mine to see the best practices of this unique concept. Searching for a location, going through the construction and permitting process took 18 months, but it was so worth it to see my vision of a cat cafe come to life. We opened May of 2024 to over 300 people visiting our cafe Memorial Day weekend! The cats are definitely spoiled while they are in our care and we love every one like our own; and even adopted Queen Verde to forever reign over the cat lounge in November of 2024. We gave her eight forever friends/royal subjects in the spring of 2025 when we decided to keep some Purrmanent Residents in the cat lounge in addition to our adoptable kitties. As of this writing we have adopted out 229 kitties! I’m so thankful for the partnerships we’ve made along the way to support our cafe side of the business too; Forte Legato Coffee Roasters provide our espresso beans and cold brew, Wild Flour Sweets for our gluten-free pastries, The Magic Box for their freeze dried candies and pickles, and various other small businesses and artists who create fantastic cat-themed merch for our boutique.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The cats make it look easy, but I would have never guessed how much work it truly is to open your own business. My mom always said that each problem is just a hoop you have to jump through, but these hoops are on fire and never-ending. Each week presents an entirely new problem to solve, and the most challenging thing seems to be how we can increase sales and profit, and how I can budget my time better. I don’t have a business or finance degree, in fact my formal training was at Winthrop University for my Masters of Music Education. And I feel like I’m constantly living two lives with not enough time because I’m still teaching music full time at an Elementary in Rock Hill. I have hired a great staff who keep the place in great shape while I’m at my day job. We work well together to create a positive and creative environment for every customer who walks in our doors. We could always use more foot traffic and we are exploring new and creative ways to get the word out there that there’s an awesome cat cafe right in Rock Hill.
We’ve been impressed with Purrfect Pair Cat Cafe, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Purrfect Pair Cat Cafe is so much more than a place to watch cats and sip coffee.
Our Cafe has an expansive drink menu ranging from lattes, mochas, teas, matchas, lemonades, slushies, ciders, italian sodas, dirty sodas, and popping boba pearls. We have specialty drinks featured on our Cats Meow menu year-round, and feature a new themed menu each month. Our espresso is the highest quality around and roasted by Forte Legato Coffee Roasters. We partner with Wild Flour Sweets for amazing tasting cookies, rice krispies, macarons, and cake pops, which all happen to be gluten free. Our partnership with The Magic Box for their freeze dried candies has been super sweet as well. If you don’t want to go into the cat lounge you can grab a coffee and sit at our 20 foot window to watch the cats zoom around!
Our Boutique is filled with a large variety of items for cat loves and their cats! We have branded merch to rep your local cat cafe, stickers and keychains tend to be a top seller these days. If you can’t adopt a real cat we have several options of toy stuffed cats to love on. Your cat will love the springs, catnip kickers, and scratchers that we sell so your cat won’t be jealous of our cats they smell on you. We have a whole corner of items that local artists and small businesses have made that are cat-tastic too!
Our Cat Lounge is the star of the show with our nine Purrmanent Residents and rotation of Adoptable Cats from our current rescue partner Lancaster SPCA. We have adopted out 229 cats so far and love to help find the purrfect family for these fantastic felines. Customers can choose to visit with the cats for 30 minutes or an hour. We also offer a package for Private Parties for birthdays, get-togethers, team-building, bachelorette parties and more! We usually offer a Movie Night each Friday and host special events like bingo, trivia, and Cat Yoga each month.
While the cat lounge is not “BYOC; Bring Your Own Cat” we do have Luxury Cat Boarding Condos in a separate space. Family cats never interact with the cats in the lounge, but have their own space to play, watch cat TV, nap, and snack on their favorite foods from home. Owners receive a picture or video of their kitties every day while they are away and if their cat was adopted from the cat lounge, we offer a discount to alumni!
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
There are now more than 270 cat cafes in the United States! We love supporting our cat cafe “cousins” and I’ve personally been to over 95 now! The closest ones in South Carolina are Cat Daddy in Columbia, Purr and Pour in Georgetown, and Pounce in Charleston. Nearby in North Carolina are Whiskerville in Belmont, Cool Beans in Gastonia, Wicks and Whiskers in Charlotte, and Mac Tabby with locations in North Davidson, Concord, and Salisbury. Small businesses like ours depend on our community to help us save as many cats as we can and provide a great ‘third space’. Please support us so we can support other great causes in our community.
There is also a huge need for more people to be foster families for kitties looking for their forever home. While we act as a giant foster home with a showroom, each adoptable cat needs to be with a foster family for two weeks or longer before coming to the cat cafe. Our shelters are full and the local rescues are at their maximum capacity, and there is a huge campaign to spay and neuter pets, but resources in our county are not sufficent enough to meet the demand and solve the overpopulation problem we currently have. Trap-Neuter-Return for feral or colony cats is another great program that will ultimately help cats everywhere; please reach out to see how you can help!
Pricing:
- Cat Lounge Visits: $10 for 30 minutes, $15 for an hour
- Special Events are $21 and Movie Nights (including a small drink and popcorn) is $26
- Private Parties with 12 small drinks included is $250 and without is $200
- Luxury Cat Boarding Condos are $30/night
- Specialty Drinks range from $5-7.50
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.purrfectpaircatcafe.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/purrfectpaircatcafe
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/purrfectpaircatcafe/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@PurrfectPairCatCafe
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@purrfectpaircatcafe
