After his father died, David Tank of Sterling Heights felt he had no reason to stay in Michigan and was headed to Paris.

Until he got a call that changed his life.

“I was literally in the taxi on my way to the airport when I got this call saying, ‘My friend wants to open a cat cafe,’” said Tank, recalling the events that led to the opening of the Black Cat Beanery in Lake Orion.

The person who called knew he always talked about opening a place. However, he’s a realist and after running dozens of financial plans to see if a cat cafe could turn a profit he shelved the idea.

“It just wasn’t profitable,” said Tank, who said as much to the woman who called.

Then he boarded the plane headed for Paris, where he planned to live out his days as a financial consultant.

“I love Paris. It’s just beautiful and always changing,” said Tank, who graduated from Eisenhower High School, earned a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University and went on to become a financial executive in the automotive industry.

He traveled the world for his job but when his mother got sick he returned to Sterling Heights to help his father take care of her.

“She died right after I came home,” said Tank, who went back to work in the automotive industry until his father got sick and then once again, he gave up his job in order to take care of his father.

In either case it was never a burden. He was close with both of his parents who loved cats as much as he did, which is probably what fueled his passion for felines and his idea for the cat cafe in the first place.

“They were always big in Asia,” said Tank, who frequented a few of them during his visits to the country. “They started in Asia about 20 years ago and then became popular in Europe but they’re different over there.”

Cats and patrons dine together whereas regulations here make that impossible.

This was one of the points he brought up with the caller but eventually she convinced him to listen to her pitch.

“The more I talked to her the more I got excited about the idea again,” Tank said of his conversation with Danielle Reyes, a teacher who worked in the community with at-risk families while also volunteering to help the adoption team for Pawsitive Cause, a shelter and rescue organization.

In the end they came up with a business model that is not only profitable but doing wonders for their mission to find forever homes for rescued cats.

“It’s been going great,” said Reyes. “It’s been very rewarding and a very healthy way for me to contribute to the rescue.”

Reyes admits they weren’t sure what the public’s response would be like.

“The rescue that we work with only takes in abandoned and abused rescues. These are the worst of the worst cases so we were nervous at first about how people would react to the land of the mystic.”

Like a cat with only one leg, missing part of its tail, or just afraid of people. Instead visitors have embraced the business.

“We have found that people love it. They’re not sad at all but happy to be around to help in their recovery,” Reyes said. “Part of their recovery is socializing and that’s what our patrons have done.”

“We only have 15 cats at a time so we get to know them better,” Tank said.

“That’s Sassy,” said Kristina Buxton, a volunteer and among the people who have fallen in love with the cafe. “She’s the sweetest girl until she’s done. Then she’s sassy.”

“She’s been here since we opened,” Buxton said, but noted that there was someone showing an interest in adopting her.

“We’re at 147,” Tank said, referring to the number of adoptions they’ve handled since opening in 2023.

“This is our first time here and we love it,” said Amanda Breen of Clarkston, while watching her 2-year-old toss a toy around in hopes of getting one of the cats to chase it. “That’s why we’re here,” she added. “We’re looking for a cat that will play with a toddler.”

Marissa King traveled all the way from Grand Blanc to visit the Black Cat Beanery.

“It’s worth it,” King said. “This is my third time here. I do have a cat at home but I love being here. I also like that we’re helping them get adopted.”

Sandra Featherstone of Lake Orion does not want a cat in her house.

But she and Violet love them.

“So, we come here to play with them,” Sandra said, while watching her 5-year-old daughter playing with a black cat that seemed interested in meeting everyone in the room.

“We love coming here. I wish they had something like this for dogs,” Featherstone said.

As for Tank he could not be happier with the way things are going.

“I only wish my dad was here to see it,” said Tank, whose inheritance helped to support his dream. “I think he would be very proud of what we’ve done.”