After four years and over a thousand adoptions, Feeline Good Cat Café had just 11 cats left before it closed its doors on June 21.
The spacious two-story café was a peaceful spot with soothing music, tasty treats and specialty coffee. Upon walking in, visitors were met with a friendly smile by the owner, Francesca Hall, who occasionally worked behind the counter.
The cafe featured a special perk: the cat room that clients could book for 30-minute to one-hour intervals.
The second floor was a laid-back, quiet space with tables perfect for staying a while.
Francesca Hall, the owner of Feeline Good Cat Café, said closing it felt bittersweet.
“Working with these babies has been some of the best times in my life,” Hall said.
Hall was inspired to create the cafe after adopting her first cat, Oswald. She grew up surrounded by animals and worked in animal care. She combined her passions by opening Feeline Good in 2021, she said.
She partnered with the Humane Society of North Central Florida to foster cats in the cafe until they got adopted. By offering adoption services in the cafe, the Humane Society had more room for intake, she said.
When the cafe first opened, it was booked from open to close. Its first adoption happened within 10 minutes of opening, she said. Since then, Hall felt supported by the community from the cafe’s first day to its last.
“It has been the best response for the closure,” Hall said.
She’s grateful for the positive memories she’s created for clients and herself, she said.
Hall recalls receiving a call one morning from her employee, who was panicking because the cat door was left open overnight. All the cats had wandered into other areas of the cafe. Hall sped over to the cafe to find half the cats in the cat room and the other half claiming the sofas.
“After the initial panic, we laughed and laughed and laughed,” she said.
While Hall looks back on her fond memories of the cafe, so do regulars.
Izabella Pino, a 24-year-old UF alumna, visited Feeline Good almost every Saturday as a student. She first heard about the cafe from a friend and visited one of the first weekends it was open. It was her go-to study spot back in her collegiate days, she said.
“I'm just sad to see it go but happy that it was ever here,” Pino said.
The cafe was a good study spot, she said. She could focus on her work on the second floor, come down for a snack, play with cats and talk to Hall if she needed a break. It was part of her routine.
Since graduating, Pino said she hadn’t been back for over a year but wanted to say goodbye to her college study spot.
Franziska Raber, the director of development at the Humane Society of North Central Florida, was the bridge between the cafe and the cats.
She spearheaded the business partnership by allowing Hall to foster the cats and have them remain in her care for vaccinations and vet appointments.
The cafe’s opening came at an ideal time for the Humane Society. Its cat viewing rooms were closed during renovations. The partnership allowed the cats to roam freely and engage with people when they couldn’t socialize on-site.
The cat cafe also helped shy cats break out of their shells, she said.
With the cafe closed, the cats will return to feline group housing, where people can meet and play with them at the shelter, she said.
Raber said she’ll miss Hall and her cafe’s helping hand.
“We're losing somebody really special that always had the cats and their interests in mind,” she said.
Contact Allison Bonnemaison at abonnemaison@alligator.org. Follow them on X @allisonrbonn.
Allison is a journalism and international studies sophomore. She is the Summer 2025 food reporter at The Avenue. In her free time, she enjoys drawing and finding new music to listen to.
