Scan a cat and order your meal

Cats wearing shirts printed with QR codes gather at the Cat Fairy cafe in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, July 16, 2018. [Photo/VCG]

A cat cafe named Miaoxiannv (Cat Fairy) in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, has become one of the hottest spots in this city recently, with some customers driving one hour from the other side of the city just to enjoy a new service: scan a cat to order a meal.

Luo An, an overseas graduate from the post-1990 generation, runs the cafe. As Luo seldom stays at the cafe, his only employee would always get into a muddle for being a waitress, cashier and cat keeper at the same time.

Thus, Luo came up with the idea to dress all the cats in shirts printed with QR codes, enabling customers to self-order their meals by using online payment apps such as Koubei and Alibaba's Alipay.

Besides QR codes, each cat has a self introduction printed on their clothes, reflecting their different and funny personalities.

There are altogether 15 cats at the cafe, with most being stray cats adopted by Luo. Only those with tender personalities and vaccinations are allowed to serve customers, Luo said.

Cat lovers are also allowed to buy cat food on the apps and feed the cats themselves, and a cat named Azrael is the cafe's top draw, said Luo.