Brittany Baker, owner of A Sanctuary Cafe, wants to bring her own little slice of bliss to the Beacon Hill neighborhood. A charming new addition to Charles Street this past July, Baker’s cat cafe and micro bookstore serves up a unique kind of comfort to its patrons, with an emphasis on the development of a more interconnected and equitable Boston.
“What’s important to us is to create a community space,” Baker said. “So the word ‘sanctuary’ is meant to be a sanctuary for the cats, but also a sanctuary for people, too.”
It took half a decade for Baker to make her dream a reality, but the cafe’s mission and values have been with her for longer. Baker started to volunteer at animal rescue shelters 12 years ago, so it felt only natural to combine her passion for cats with her other interests, she said.
In doing so, it was also important for her to give back to the community she aims to serve. A Sanctuary Cafe is a benefit corporation, which means after expenses are paid, remaining profits that would typically go to the owner are instead funneled to social causes valued by the business. It is currently in the development of its affiliated nonprofits, including an initiative that focuses on Boston’s community cat population and a book donation program that supports Boston Public School students.
“I have loved cats my whole life. I have loved books my whole life. I have loved coffee as long as I’ve been old enough to drink it,” Baker said.
A Sanctuary Cafe is the only cat cafe in Boston, and the fusion of all of Baker’s interests make it inimitable. “I think there’s just something about the idea of sitting in an armchair with a cat, with a book, with a beverage, that’s an ideal comfort,” Baker said.
The cafe’s community-centric philosophy also extends to its sourcing. Its pastry case is supplied with sweets from French Press Bakery and Cafe, a Needham-based dessert shop. Its coffee comes from Atomic Coffee Roasters in Salem; its tea from MEM Tea in Somerville.
Local partnerships are a top priority and Baker intends to keep it that way, she said, with upcoming plans to debut treats from Maca Boston and Nussli 18 this fall, which are Somerville- and Cambridge-based bakeries, respectively.
The space itself is a whimsical blend of old and new. Originally a bank, the cafe sports artful crown moldings and stained glass features, while also incorporating a fresh botanical twist with a sage green color palette, garden motifs and window walls. In terms of the atmosphere, Baker and her team of local designers set out with an aesthetic vision that further embodied the sanctuary-like feel.
“We were thinking sort of greenhouse, sort of indoor garden, indoor oasis,” Baker said.
The cats themselves — all rescued from Boston shelters — roam freely in a spacious window wall vestibule. Because the cats are permanent cafe residents, their comfort and wellbeing is of the utmost importance to Baker. Her and the team take special care to get the felines acclimated to their surroundings which means, for now, cafe patrons enjoy looking at the cats, but have to hold off on interacting with them inside the vestibule. With the assistance of full-time caregivers, the cats are at the tail-end of their settling in, and Baker is optimistic that visitors will be able to make reservations to spend time with the cats soon.
Mariam Hassan, a student at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, stopped in with some friends to enjoy lattes and eclairs on a recent Wednesday afternoon. They’d seen buzz about the cafe on Instagram and, expressing appreciation for the team’s dedication to the cats’ health and happiness, already have plans to return once reservations are open.
“It’s really obvious that these people care about the cats’ quality of life,” Hassan said. “I’m really glad that they’re not stressing them out and trying to introduce people to them right off the bat for their business purposes.”
Baker stressed A Sanctuary Cafe’s dedication to building a fair and equitable environment all around.
“When I was thinking about creating a community space, it was really important to me to make sure I had fantastic team members who could provide the atmosphere we want in being genuinely friendly and welcoming, but also making sure that they’re properly supported, which I think is hard to find in the retail environment,” said Baker, who has previously worked in retail herself.
Baker’s experiences shaped the kind of employer she wants to be, with a heavy emphasis on providing livable wages and full-time jobs with benefits, as well as consideration for mental health.
“Everyone on the team here is amazing,” said Molly Larrabee, who’s been a barista at the cafe since July. “I couldn’t ask for better people to work with, and the owner as well — she’s amazing.”
Larrabee recognized from the start just how friendly and welcoming the team is, making each and every exchange special. “When I actually first came in [to interview], they thought I was a customer, so I got the whole spiel. … It was really nice to have that customer-facing interaction,” Larrabee said.
The cafe’s guests reciprocate the love. “It feels like a collective experience,” Baker said. “This is a true community collaboration.”
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