BENGALURU: Walk into Therapup in Whitefield and have Charlie, Tweety, Jojo, Oreo and Lucky greet you with wagging tails.
City-based techie Ankur Jain is coming up with a cafe that welcomes pet dogs and even serves them food. People who don’t have pets can visit too, and play with the eight dogs that the cafe raises.
Rice and boiled chicken will be fed to the pets, while human guests can choose food and beverages from a separate menu.
The cafe will open its doors next month, as the founders are yet to finalise the menus.
Ankur moved to Bengaluru from Bhopal four years ago. “I have always loved dogs. I grew up with them. But when I moved to this city, I was not allowed to keep a pet in my apartment. That got me thinking that there would be many others like me who wouldn’t be allowed to keep a pet or do not own one as they do not have time to take care of them,” he says.
“There are very few restaurants that allow pets in their premises. Even the ones that do don’t serve them special dog food. They share the same menu with humans,” he observes.
Friendly, trained golden retrievers, Labradors and Indogs of ages two months to four years live in the cafe. “They will be welcoming to other dogs that are brought to the cafe,” Ankur promises.
The cafe will have five to six staff members, including a chef. They live with the dogs on the first floor of a 5BHK house, while the cafe will be on the ground floor.
Unlike other restaurants where pets are restricted to certain area, Therapup lets them roam around freely within the 10,000 sq ft area. The cafe can seat 40 people.
Ankur adds, “If the guests’ dogs are not friendly with our pets, the owners will be asked to leash them. We do not leash our dogs.”
The owners can also play fetch with their pets in the outdoor setting.