A Georgetown cat cafe closed indefinitely Feb. 9 after facing management troubles and a months-long unionization push by employees.

Crumbs & Whiskers, founded in 2015, partnered with local rescue organizations to house adoptable cats in a cafe-style setting where customers could visit and play with the animals. Employees say the closure comes following high management turnover, stalled union negotiations and allegations of unsafe work practices, leaving a dozen workers uncertain about their employment and the rescue cats the cafe housed.

Savannah Zuill, an assistant manager at Crumbs & Whiskers, said employees first considered unionizing after an individual forcefully attempted to enter the store last year. 

“She took a wooden A-frame sign and started banging it against the third glass door that actually goes into the cafe,” Zuill told The Hoya. “That door doesn’t lock, so several of my co-workers and some guests had to barricade the door closed until she finally ended up leaving.”

After the incident, the cafe’s management sent out a fundraising request to customers for property damage sustained during the event, but employees said in an Instagram video that there was no response to workers’ concerns about safety or emergency procedures.

Zuill said a lack of support from upper management after the incident fostered a distrust between employees and management.

“We just realized there’s nobody looking out for us, there’s nobody looking out for the cats,” Zuill said. “We just felt really unsafe and like our overall well-being and the cats’ overall well-being just wasn’t prioritized.”

These concerns, along with discontent over alleged unsafe working conditions, culminated in workers seeking collective bargaining rights with Crumbs & Whiskers. On Jan. 11, employees presented a letter requesting voluntary recognition of their union. Manager Bryn Jacobs and company owner Kanchan Singh, who received the letter, have not issued a response as of Feb. 19. 

Employees said they hoped to unionize so that they could better help fulfill the cafe’s mission.

“The labor of love put into Crumbs & Whiskers is what makes it thrive,” the employees wrote in the letter. “We believe that a union is the best way to ensure that our voices are heard so that our shared mission can flourish.”

Jacobs, who Zuill said resigned from her position days after the letter was presented, was replaced by two managers who also departed in less than a week. Employees were told Feb. 9 that the location would be closing indefinitely as upper management continued its search for local leadership.

Zuill said the financial burden of such an abrupt closure showed a lack of appreciation by management for workers’ efforts.

“Losing even a little bit of your income in a city as expensive as Washington, D.C. is really overwhelming,” Zuill said. “I think that them giving us such little notice shows they’re just not valuing how much time and effort and care that we’ve put into the business to make it successful.”

A GoFundMe to support the workers impacted by the closure has received nearly $7000 in donations as of Feb. 19.

In an email to The Hoya Feb. 18, Crumbs & Whiskers did not comment on the incident, saying a public statement would be released shortly.

Aine Beam (SFS ’29) — a student volunteer at Meow Maison, another cat cafe in the Georgetown neighborhood —  said the rescued cats at Crumbs & Whiskers could be susceptible to reliving bad experiences during relocation.

“Some cats have previous trauma from owners and wherever they were before coming to the cat cafe,” Beam told The Hoya. “And so a lot of times it can reactivate that and it can make them a lot slower to trust once they do get adopted.”

Zuill said Crumbs & Whiskers served as a crucial haven for cats in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) area, and that the potential loss of that haven has impacted her more than the immediate fallout from temporarily losing her job.

“The most important thing to me is the cats having some place to go,” Zuill said. “It’s really devastating to me that usually there’s a space there for 20 to 30 cats, and right now there’s 20 to 30 less spaces for homeless animals in the DMV right now.”

Ewa Tryniszewski (SFS ’28), who has visited Crumbs & Whiskers, said she hopes cats from the cafe are looked after while the location is closed.

“I enjoyed the time I went to Crumbs & Whiskers last year with a few people, who have now become some of my best friends,” Tryniszewski wrote to The Hoya. “I hope that all the cats are well taken care of and placed in happy homes during this transition!”

Zuill said workers’ concerns continue to center around being able to communicate with management.

“We just want a seat at the table,” Zuill said. “We just want management to recognize the issues that we have with safety, with cat health, with our own working conditions and our own compensation, and we just want them to acknowledge us and listen to us again.”