The Crumbs & Whiskers, a cat cafe chain, M Street location closed its doors indefinitely on Tuesday, February 10. The closure comes after staff presented then-store and national manager Bryn Jacobs with a formal request for voluntary union recognition on Jan 11.
Unionization was the culmination of 11 months of meetings and behind-the-scenes work between Crumbs & Whiskers employees and representatives at Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board of Workers United, a labor union that represents over 4,000 members from various industries and is currently advocating for the unionization of Starbucks workers.
Though their cited complaints ranged from cat care to scheduling cuts, assistant manager Savannah Zuill said that an incident that occurred nearly a year ago was “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
On a Saturday in February 2025, an individual, who is believed to have been experiencing a mental health crisis, attempted to forcibly enter the cafe, eventually picking up a sign outside and using it to try to break down the second, interior door. Zuill, who was not working at the time, added that because the cafe is below street level, there is only one exit and nowhere to hide.
Employees—unable to lock that interior door—had to serve as a physical barrier between the individual outside and customers.
“That incident just made us super aware of how vulnerable we are in that space and how few safety precautions really existed,” Zuill said.
Though the D.C. location’s general manager held a safety meeting with employees in the aftermath, owner Kanchan Singh—who lives in Los Angeles, the site of the other Crumbs & Whiskers location, and, according to Zuill, has not visited Crumbs & Whiskers D.C. since 2021—did not reach out.
In a newsletter sent out to customers last fall, Singh requested donations to help recover losses from the “break-in.” Zuill said that the only physical damage was a smashed Chromebook, which cost less than $100.
“Ownership failed to check in on us or provide meaningful support,” the employees claimed in a joint statement. “Instead, our trauma was exploited and the damage to the store was exaggerated in order to solicit donations without addressing staff safety or making real improvements to our working conditions.”
All seven employees presented Jacobs with their request, which would include recognition of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board of Workers United as their collective bargaining representative. Since then, Singh has not voluntarily recognized their union, leading the employees to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board.
Jacobs, who worked at the company for over four years, has resigned. She disagreed with upper management and “wanted [Singh] to negotiate with us in good faith.”
Shortly before the end of Jacob’s time at Crumbs & Whiskers, management externally hired a new national manager, Natasha Linton, and D.C. manager, Tayon Robinson. According to Zuill, this marked a break in the company’s standard hiring process; employees have historically been brought on as hosts and later promoted to management positions. Within eight days of being hired, both managers parted with the company.
On Instagram and X last week, Robinson posted screenshots of emails and texts from Singh, including one that read, “I’m going to fucking kill you.” Robinson’s employment was suspended at the time and has now officially been terminated.
In a comment on his original post, Robinson wrote that he plans to file a case “seeking compensation for damages, including emotional damages, related to what I believe was retaliation and being pressured to participate in illegal union-busting activities, which I refused to do.” When contacted, he declined to comment, citing legal reasons.
Zuill said that she and the other current employees are grateful to have received an outpouring of support on social media from former employees, labor rights activists, and customers. When Crumbs & Whiskers closed indefinitely last week, they set up a GoFundMe that has now raised over $5000.
Crumbs & Whiskers’ cats, which are always up for adoption, have been relocated to new homes. Some have been adopted or are being fostered; others have been returned to the cafe’s partner organization, Homeward Trails Animal Rescue.
Aine Beam (SFS ’29) is a student volunteer at Meow Maison, another Georgetown cat cafe. As the owner of 18 cats at home and a caretaker of many more at Meow Maison, she understands firsthand how the rescue cats may be affected by Crumbs & Whiskers’ upheaval.
“A very quick and sudden change is traumatic in any scenario,” she said. “It’s always better to be in a home, a foster home, a cat cafe with other cats, et cetera, than in a shelter.”
Zuill also raised concerns about the cats’ well-being and said that she wanted to see the cafe reopen as soon as possible.
“I want there to be cats in the cafe, I want there to be people coming into the cafe,” she said. “I really, really, really don’t want to see the business fail. We want to make the place better, we don’t want to hurt the company.”
