Alaska Cat Café set to expand lunch, breakfast menu

The newest entry to the Wasilla lunch scene is set to expand its menu offerings by the end of this month.

The Alaska Cat Café, on the corner of Lucille Street and Herning Avenue, opened its doors in late July. Owned and operated by the Rice family – John and Tanya, and their daughter Tahlya – the café is ready for its next step.

Nearly two months after their grand opening, the Rices will unveil a new menu that will turn the coffee shop into more of a full-service restaurant.

“We want people to know they can come here for a quick lunch,” Tanya Rice said. “We want to be another option for people.”

No cats are necessary, either. The café portion of the operation is separate from the cat room. It is a for-profit business that supports the nonprofit Cat Cottage. “The hope is to have the café be able to support everything,” Tanya said.

She said the idea for the business came from her daughter, a cat lover with a passion for helping animals. On a vacation to Hawaii, they visited a cat café there, and young Tahlya was hooked.

“My parents told me if I graduated early they’d open a cat café,” she said.

When Tahlya honored her part of the bargain, the Alaska Cat Café was born.

“It began as the dream of a determined teen with a passion for cats,” John said. “We are entrepreneurs by nature. Coupled with our love of cats, this seemed like a good fit for us.”

Since opening, the Rices have rotated different food specials in and out. That helped shape the new menu, which will include early favorites like the chicken salad on croissant, and home-made mac and cheese, made with Gouda and offered with an option of crumbled beef bacon on top.

“People really like the chicken salad,” Tanya said. “The mac and cheese is popular, too. It’s what people come in and wait for.”

The lunch menu, available any time of day, will also include a turkey and swiss croissant that has a pesto option, and a comfort food classic – Frito pie, which is a bowl of chili topped with nacho cheese and fritos.

The new expanded breakfast menu, also available all day, will have two kinds of breakfast sandwiches, two kinds of breakfast burritos – a generous portion of potato, egg, cheese and either beef bacon or sausage, wrapped in a tortilla.

Freshly brewed coffee, espresso drinks, Lotus and Red Bull drinks, as well as pastries, cookies, and baked goods from Backwoods Bakery are always available, too. Soups, hot dogs, and pretzels with cheese, are also coming with the new menu.

But you don’t have to be a cat lover to enjoy lunch at the Alaska Cat Café.

“The concept is misunderstood. People don’t understand the separation,” Tanya said.

The Rices are not done yet. Once the new menu is rolled out, they plan to set their sights on event nights, like trivia with cats and painting with cats. They also plan to turn the upstairs of the building into a library for people to hang out with cats.

To assist with the expansion of services, the Rices are also looking to add staff. They are actively hiring a kitchen manager, barristas, and personnel to assist with cats in the Cat Cottage. “There’s also more cat-related merchandise coming,” Tanya said.

The Alaska Cat Café is open Sunday through Thursday.

FIND OUT MORE

https://thealaskacatcafe.com/

Or check out the Alaska Cat Café on Facebook.