First permanent Hello Kitty cocktail bar opens in US

Japan’s Sanrio has opened its first permanent Hello Kitty Café in the US, complete with a cocktail bar, in California’s Orange County.

The Bow Room at the Hello Kitty Grand Café in Irvine, California.

Based inside the Irvine Spectrum Center, the Hello Kitty Grand Café is the first and only permanent café in the US and features a public café and a private room for reservation-only afternoon tea program and cocktail service.

By day, fans of the Japanese cat cartoon can enjoy an afternoon tea, along with a “supercute” menu that touts freshly baked cookies, cakes, donuts, seasonal goodies and other house-made hot and iced drinks.

At night, a selection of craft kitty cocktails are offered in the Bow Room, a private pink paradise hidden behind the main café. Cat-themed cocktails include You Had Me at Hello (cachaça, aperol, lemon, sherry and pineapple) and the Hello Kit-Tea (Japanese whiskey, jasmine tea, lime, depaz syrup, yuzu, cream).

Cocktail service runs on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 5 to 9pm, with extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays, while wines are offered throughout the day and night, which includes its own range of official Hello Kitty wines and Prosecco.

“Hello Kitty Cafe is an integral extension of the Hello Kitty brand as we continue to evolve and diversify our consumer touchpoints,” said Craig Takiguchi, COO of Sanrio, Inc.

“As the first brick-and-mortar cafe concept of its kind in the U.S., Hello Kitty Grand Cafe combines our signature fast-causal setting with an all-new immersive dining experience through our Afternoon Tea Service for guests of all ages and Cocktail Service that caters to our adult fans. We look forward to debuting the latest evolution of Hello Kitty Cafe as a new destination in Southern California.”

The Hello Kitty brand emerged in the 1970s, created by Japanese company Sanrio, and based on the Japanese concept of kawaii, the culture of cuteness in Japan.

While widely thought of as a children’s character and toy, the brand has grown to become a global lifestyle brand, enjoyed by adults and children alike, and has spawned a plethora of products in all manner of areas, from homeware and food to clothing, toiletries and jewellery, to name only a few.