“Cat employees wanted!” a cafe shop owner in China recently wrote on Xiaohongshu - China's answer to Instagram. “We’re looking for healthy, good-tempered cats,” the owner added. “We offer a snack per day, and a 30 percent discount for pet owner’s friends!” The post received more than 100 likes and 600 comments.
The idea might sound unconventional, but it’s a growing trend in country and is called “Zhengmaotiaoqian” in Chinese, it translates to “earn snack money.”
Pet cafes are a big business in China and now, pet owners have been sending their dogs and cats to cafes to work and earn "snack money". Visitors at these cafes get to interact with the animals that roam the shop, allowing the establishment to charge a fee for the experience, CNN reported. Customers visiting China’s cat and dog cafés usually pay an entrance fee, ranging from 30-60 yuan (about Rs 350 to Rs 700) per person, or simply need to order some food.
It's a win-win arrangement for owners who have to leave their pets at home while they head out to work.
“I feel it’s just like parents sending their kids off to school,” the 27-year-old PhD student Jane Xue told CNN as she dropped her two-year-old Samoyed named OK for her new part-time job. "Sending OK to the cafe is a win-win. She gets to play with other dogs and won’t feel so lonely."
She added that OK’s job in the cafe allows her to save money as keeping the dog at home meant running the AC all day.
Meanwhile, Xin Xin, a 33-year-old Chinese teacher in Beijing has been looking for a cafe that can hire her two-year-old tuxedo cat. But, Zhang Bu’er, which means “not stupid” in Chinese, has not been able to land a job yet.
“He is clingy and good at purring!" Xin wrote on Zhang Bu’er’s resume, adding that they “only expect some cans of cat food or snacks as his salary.”
Till 2023, there were more than 4,000 cat cafe-related companies in the country, CNN reported.
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