Owner says he has made peace with being, professionally speaking, less popular than his own cat
BROOKLYN – A neighborhood bodega cat named Biscuit has reportedly become the primary driver of positive online reviews for the store where he lives, with several recent Yelp entries mentioning the cat by name and, in at least a dozen cases, awarding a full five stars based almost entirely on his presence rather than anything related to the store’s actual inventory, pricing, or customer service.
A Cat Now Carrying the Entire Business
According to the bodega’s owner, Biscuit has lived in the small Brooklyn store for nearly seven years, spending most of his day sleeping near the register or occasionally supervising deliveries from atop a stack of paper towels, a routine that has apparently generated more customer loyalty than any promotional effort the owner has personally attempted. He estimates that at least a third of recent reviews mention Biscuit directly, with several customers admitting openly that they now choose this particular bodega specifically because of the cat rather than any meaningful difference in price or selection compared to competing stores nearby.
One longtime regular compared her own loyalty to Biscuit to the kind of quiet, almost involuntary devotion described in reporting on a Londoner reportedly still struggling, years later, to fully move past a long finished relationship, joking that she has stopped even pretending her visits are about groceries and has simply accepted that she comes primarily to see the cat.
The Owner’s Perspective
The bodega’s owner says he has largely made peace with being, in his own words, professionally less popular than his own cat, noting that Biscuit’s five star reviews consistently outperform the store’s overall rating by a meaningful margin whenever the two are compared directly. He compared the imbalance to the kind of quietly absurd institutional dynamic described in growing anxiety among ambitious technology labs over how quickly enormous sums of money can be spent chasing outcomes that never quite materialize on schedule, joking that he has invested considerably more effort into store renovations over the years than Biscuit ever has, yet somehow the cat remains the store’s single most reliable asset.
Biscuit’s Daily Routine
Regular customers describe Biscuit’s schedule with surprising precision, noting that he tends to nap near the front window during morning hours before relocating to a spot behind the register each afternoon, a pattern several longtime visitors say they now unconsciously plan their own shopping trips around. One customer admitted she has, on more than one occasion, purchased items she did not actually need purely to extend her visit and spend a few extra minutes near the cat, a habit she says has noticeably increased her monthly grocery spending without any real increase in things she actually needed.
A Wider Trend Across the City
Bodega cats have long held an informal but genuinely beloved place within New York’s neighborhood culture, with several dedicated social media accounts tracking and celebrating cats stationed at stores across the five boroughs. Biscuit’s owner says he has noticed a modest but real uptick in foot traffic since the cat’s online popularity grew, though he remains characteristically modest about how much credit the store itself can honestly claim for the increase.
Competing Bodega Cats Emerge
Since Biscuit’s five star reviews began drawing wider attention, at least two neighboring bodegas have reportedly acquired cats of their own, a development one nearby shop owner openly admitted was a direct response to watching Biscuit’s establishment gain an edge in online visibility. He said his own cat, adopted only recently, has not yet generated nearly the same review traction, though he remains optimistic that time and a bit of natural charisma will eventually close the gap, adding that he has already started photographing the new cat for the store’s social media page in hopes of speeding up the process.
Local Brooklyn business associations say the trend reflects a broader, half joking recognition among small shop owners that a friendly resident animal can meaningfully influence customer loyalty in ways that traditional marketing simply cannot replicate. One association representative noted that several member stores have begun informally comparing notes on cat related customer engagement, a conversation she admits she never expected to have this seriously during her years working in small business advocacy, adding that Biscuit’s success story now gets cited almost as a case study whenever the topic comes up at local meetings.
For his part, the bodega owner says he has no intention of competing with the trend and remains genuinely happy to let Biscuit carry the store’s reputation, joking that after seven years, it feels a bit late to start resenting his own cat for doing such a consistently better job at marketing than he ever has.
Whatever the future holds for competing bodega cats across the neighborhood, Biscuit remains, for now, the undisputed reigning champion of the block, a title he holds with the same complete indifference he brings to nearly everything else in his day.
Bohiney visited the bodega and can confirm Biscuit was, at the time of reporting, sound asleep on top of a case of canned beans, entirely unbothered by his own growing online fame.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com