We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vanessa Beardsley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Vanessa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
A long time ago, drudging along as an attorney and feeling like a square peg in a round hole, I would think about the kind of small business I would open if I could. I kicked around a lot of ideas during these mental escapes, but it never took on any serious form. When my son turned 15 years old, I realized my skills as a taxi driver, playmate, chef, and project manager were coming to an end and I turned my mind to re-entering the work force. We’d lived through Covid, and for a myriad of reasons the world was dark and scary. I think I fell back on the thing my mom had always said: when the problems seem too big, focus on what you can do in your own world. I felt compelled to do something that would improve my neighborhood, where I had lived with my family for 20+ years. So I stepped back and asked myself: what does this area really lack? What would I personally be happy to see open up here? What would make our small world better? The answer to me was someplace that would bring people together, that could be a small respite from dark days. The comfy old coffee shop, where you could sit and talk, pick up on news, meet friends, study, had been replaced by impersonal chain coffee shops that were turning into conveyer-belt operations with more interest in pushing customers out the door than asking them to sit and relax.
I was sitting in my back yard on a summer evening with some friends, when we heard a knock on our back gate. It was two college age girls from next door. They had seen our dogs and, being lonely for their pets at home, asked if they could come pet them. That was the seed that grew into Catzen. We’re in the middle of three colleges where we live and those kids are away from home, away from loved pets, and need an alterative to study and hang out. That was the beginning. I thought, “if I have to be at work every day, it should be a place I WANT to be.” I love coffee, and I love cats. I started with basics: “is there competition? Is there a precedent for a cat cafe in Saint Paul?” Then I thought about what I did and didn’t want: I didn’t want to do adoption, because that was too much work. And because, if this was to be a place to draw people together, how much better for the cats and the people if the cats were comfortable in the space and with each other? I also considered customers who didn’t like or want to be around cats. It couldn’t be a cat cafe, in the traditional sense. There had to be a serviceable coffee shop, as well as a cat area so customers had a choice. Once I had these basic ideas clear, I called the city and explained my idea. They were very helpful in giving me some starting ideas of the permitting and processes. So now that I had this germ of an idea, and knew the city was on board, I moved on to the next steps.
I would say that the most important decisions I made were the people I chose. It’s important to recognize the skills you lack, and find a reliable person who can fill in those gaps with their complementary skills. My manager was the very first person I hired and we were partners through the whole process. Without her, this business would not have gotten off the ground. Second, I recognized the need for a professional architect. I interviewed several, based on customer reviews and their portfolios, looking for a firm who could handle smaller scale projects but that also showed the capacity to design visually interesting and creative spaces. Once I had the architect chosen, they worked with me to interview builders until I found one I felt good about. The fact that I allowed the architect to guide me with builders that they had worked with before and felt confident in, made a huge difference when we got to the construction phase.
These three key hires made all the difference. They brough skills, knowledge, and experience to guide me through the entire design and build phase. I knew what I didn’t know, and by bringing in experts, I was able to get to open.
Vanessa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I was an attorney for 12 years, then stayed home to raise my son. In 2025, I opened Catzen Coffee, a specialty coffee shop where you can relax in the company of cats. I truly didn’t have any specific coffee knowledge to begin with but I knew I wanted to open a coffee shop where the coffee was truly delicious, so I spent a year in taking extensive coffee training. Catzen is a cozy neighborhood spot, where we truly take pride in the craft of our coffee, in an atmosphere that lets you lower your shoulders and relax. We focus on lifting up other small businesses in our area by prioritizing offering local products, from the ingredients in our coffee, to the pastries we sell, to the gifts in our shop. Our shop is a traditional coffee shop with seating, and we have an additional Cat Lounge. The Cat Lounge is a cozy living room with upholstered seating, an expansive bookshelf, a crackling fireplace, and a mid-century vibe. We currently have 8 cats who live permanently at Catzen. They can move between the Cat Lounge and their basement living quarters.
One of our goals at Catzen is to bring our neighborhood together. To that end. we host a variety of classes, performances from local artists, and other activities. For instance, Tuesday nights is “Community Needlework Night” where we invite people to come in and work on their individual craft projects together with the cats. Wednesday we show Adventure Time on the TV in the Cat Lounge for the 10+ crowd, and Thursdays is always X-Files Night, where we show 2 episodes of the X-Files. We host painting classes, coffee classes, and sound bath classes, as well as local musicians on Friday nights.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
When I opened Catzen, I envisioned our Cat Lounge as simply extra seating where customers could freely come and go. I had to pivot quickly because I vastly underestimated the amount of people who wanted to be in the Cat Lounge! It was chaos. Having reservations to the Cat Lounge was not the feeling I wanted to give to customers but it had to be done. Not only did I have to pick a reservation system and implement it, but I also had to add to payroll by adding a host who could then monitor and take charge of reservations. So all in one I had changed my initial vision and added a lot of complication and expenses that I hadn’t planned on. It was rocky at first, but now that we’re a year+ in, we’ve finally worked out the kinks, and have created processes so it all runs (fairly) smoothly.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
I didn’t set out to be on SM. But I did have an idea that maybe some people might be interested in following along as I, a person who had no experience for this, tried to start this up a business. So I started with simple posts that documented what I was doing, day to day. I think being consistent and genuine was important. I kept things short, tried to speak from the heart, and bounced things off my “audience,” as I felt that anyone following me was just as much a part of this as I was. I would do polls about what drinkware to chose, or what logo ideas they liked. And when I started adopting the kittens that were to become the Catzen Cats, that became a fun thing to post about also. My audience was intended to be my immediate neighborhood, so my communication was very strong around my surroundings. This included putting a sign up to let people know what was coming, and being very transparent of what our plan was. We worked in the building while it was empty and would often chat with people who walked by, to introduce ourselves and spread the word. We made up explanatory flyers of what our shop would be and kept them on the exterior door so people could take one. When we chose our coffee beans, we gave a bag of beans with an introductory letter to all the neighbors on our block and behind us. I think this, along with the link to our SM, allowed the locals to follow along and get excited, and really helped smooth the way for our business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.catzencoffee.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catzencoffeesaintpaul
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/catzencoffeesaintpaul
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CatzenCoffee
Image Credits
Spothopper