But whereas the Japanese model involves a cover charge and an hourly fee – essentially making it like a pet rental service – Le Café des Chats' owner Margaux Gandelon has made his version a friendly tea room, where the focus is first on the quality of the food and the cats are an added extra.
On Internet chat rooms, owners of the first-generation Prius trade boasts and complaints about their mileage.
He is the first to chat up owners showing up at the barn as his son ducks into his office or drifts off into the road to take a phone call.
It's well worth a visit, just for a chat with owner Chris, who will give you a potted history of his career if you care to ask.
After the speech at Chrysler, the two men made a surprise visit to the Gingerbread House Bakery, where they chatted with owners who told them that a loan from the Small Business Administration helped keep their business afloat.
Then he polished his car, a black 1956 Jaguar Mark VII sedan, and made stops at businesses all around the area, chatting up owners and dropping off batches of shiny purple brochures.
On the outside it looks like a small, old-world liquor store, but forget yourself, walk right behind the counter, take a seat in the front room or the hallway (complete with discrete exit to a side street), knock back some drinks and chat with owner Dilip and the locals.
"YOU have to have people skills for this job," said Mr. Arce, who switches seamlessly from English to Spanish several times in a day as he chats with owners, managers and kitchen helpers, even at restaurants with kitchen staffs he describes as "naughty," meaning that he finds broken plates, platters and rubber gloves in their oil vats.
In Dragon's Kitchen, I got chatting with owner JP about the business, which has been open since 2009 and the affect of the roadworks on Castle and High Street on footfall, and the oddities of unpredictable Bank Holiday trade.
I spent the night at the brand-spanking remodeled Northern Hotel in Billings, chatting with owner Chris Nelson, fourth-generation (or so) local, who put his Montana public education to work by creating Zoot, a software filter that checks your credit at most stores in California.
