Ontario’s first outdoor bunny cafe is coming to Belwood this summer, offering you the chance to get some sweet treats and fluffy snuggles at the same time.
The Mad Hatter Bake and Brew food truck's bunny cafe is officially opening on July 20 outside Skol House. It will have a bistro-style menu with deli sandwiches and chopped salads, as well as beverages and a good selection of desserts.
The twist?
While you order your food, there will be just under a dozen or so bunnies hopping around your feet for you to watch and pet, including one 25-pound Flemish giant named White Rabbit.
The food truck, and the bunnies, belong to Sarah Murray.
Before opening the Mad Hatter, Murray spent years running a bakery, often selling her products at local markets, but she had to shut things down during the pandemic.
And like many others over the course of the pandemic, she grew depressed.
“I felt like I was losing it.”
To try to pull herself out of it, she started painting “like crazy.”
“Bright, colourful art was needed, and bunnies were needed,”she said. This made her feel like the Mad Hatter, hence the name.
Murray always wanted to open a cafe, but it was never in the budget. Since a food truck was more within her means, she figured she could transform it into an outdoor cafe. “The bunnies kind of came in as a wild idea to try to do something a little different.”
And just as Alice followed the white rabbit down the hole in ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ she wants you to follow her White Rabbit to their outdoor space at Skol House.
She figured having a bunch of bunnies hopping around would be a draw for kids, but also lonely adults.
“There are a lot of people that are pretty lonely, especially after the pandemic. I just wanted something that you know, people could come and they’d just be friends. Animals are so easy to connect to.”
There are a few more Flemish giant rabbits in the mix that aren’t full grown yet; they’re typically pretty lazy, she said, and will just “flop around.” The others are dwarf rabbits that tend to "popcorn" all over the place.
“They’re really entertaining to watch,” she said.
A two-foot fence will surround the food truck and seating area, so the bunnies can roam free. There will also be a seating area outside of the fence for those who just want to watch from afar. But to order, “you’ll have to brave the bunnies.”
Most of them don’t have names yet, since she figures the kids coming out will be eager to assign their own names to the bunnies. Plus, it’s hard to tell them apart, except for the few mischievous ones.
“There’s a couple that have atrocious behaviour, constantly getting into shenanigans,” she said.
There will be other entertainment beyond the bunnies as well, for opening weekend and beyond. On July 20, they’ll be screening Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, followed by Johnny Depp’s Alice in Wonderland. She said they plan to screen movies every Thursday throughout the summer, free to attend with an optional $5 donation.
Friday they will offer a sample menu, Saturday there will be live music at the Skol House bar, and Sunday there will be a photographer on-site so you can have a photo shoot with the bunnies.
She said she hopes others dealing with mental health struggles can come to get some respite, where they don’t have to spend money every time.
During movie night each week (and the game night she hopes to add soon), she said she doesn’t want to “be digging in your pockets every time.”
“Just come hang out, pet a bunny," she said.
You can find the Mad Hatter Bake & Brew bunny cafe on social media at @madhatterbakeandbrew.
