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The Sims 4:Businesses & Hobbiesallows you to run your very own small business. The pre-built options in the pack are a pottery studio, tattoo parlor, and café with social space, taking advantage of the new skills. However, with the ability to charge not just for items but also for entry into a building, you can run a business doing anything you like.
If you prefer, you may instead choose from one of the pre-defined businesses, one of which is a cat café. This combines cats and coffee in a delightful way, offering a fluffy friend to cuddle with your coffee and cake.
You’ll need both Businesses & Hobbies and Cats & Dogs to open a Pet Café.
How To Open A Pet Café
First, you need toopen a small business by paying the $750 fee. You’ll see thatCat Caféis one of the default optionsto choose from. Note that while it states cat in the title you could use any pet, just verify you have the right amount of space!
Thedefault activitiesfor this type of business areplay with pets, drink coffee, and drink tea. You have two more spaces which you can add activities to.Friendly interactionstends to be a good default addition, and can be especially helpful here where pets are involved.
Since there are cats around, we also recommend setting this up so thatall infants, toddlers and children are accompanied by a caregiverwhomust stayat the venue.
What You’ll Need In A Pet Cafe
A pet cafe is a great choice, since it issimple to set up and run and easy to manage. Here’s what you need.
A Way To Serve Drinks
The first thing you’ll need is acafé counter.The expansion includes theIn-Grain-Ed Specialty Coffee Bar for $940.You canserve a range of teas, coffees and cakesfrom here without the need for extra prep areas.
There areseveral other counters which have similar functionality,especially if you own packs like Get Together or High School Years, but the items they serve vary a little. Just be aware that youmay need a prep areafor some of the older counters, and others will serve items such as bubble tea, rather than tea and coffee, so youmay need to adjust the business activitiesto include this.
If you want to charge an entry fee, you’ll need to make sure that you have a ticket kiosk on site.
Somewhere To Sit
You’ll also need somewhere for your customers to sit.Any table and chair set is fineand there’s awide rangein the build catalog tosuit all budgets and tastes.
We recommendspreading out the tables,so both customers and pets have space to move between them. Customers who get trapped will become unhappy and this can negatively affect your business.
Toilets
While toilets aren’t essential, having them will ensurecustomers stay longeras otherwise they will either leave, or worse, pee on the floor. Justone toilet and a sink in a roomis fine, as long as you remember toset the area to public.
Pets
Finally, the most important part: pets! You’ll need toadopt or create pets and add them to your household.This means that, without mods, you can haveup to seven cats, dogs or horses.
We had five cats in our café, and that was a good number to ensure some were always visible.
You’ll also need to ensure thatall pets have access to foodas well asany other items required to meet their needs, such as toys or a litter tray.
Tips For Running A Pet Cafe
A pet cafe is easy to run, but there are a few tips which can make it even easier. Here are some tips for making your business go smoothly.
Hire Someone To Run The Counter- This enables your Sim to greet people, talk to them and build your renown much faster. You should also be cleaning up when necessary.
Train Your Pets- If you don’t want your pets to jump on the counters, you’ll need to train them. It’s easier to do this before you open the cafe if you want them to behave when people are there.
Select Pet Traits Wisely- Friendly pets will be more likely to easily interact with your customers.
Use A Pet Door- Having a pet door and staff-only door going into a room where the litter trays and food are keeps the mess away from customers and also allows pets to leave the crowded areas if they wish.
Select Your Pets Wisely- Cats or dogs work best for this but if you use dogs make sure you have more space as they can get large!
