SAVING RIGOLETTO DOG-FRIENDLY CAFÉ

Hi all!

Maybe some of you already know me and my story, I am Estela Duarte, The owner of RIGOLETTO, Dog-Friendly Cafe in Mexico.

A rough journey in opening the Rigoletto Dog-Friendly Cafe

2019 was the hardest year for me. My dogs are like my kids and I literally spent 8 months in the vet because they kept getting sick. One of my dearest babies, Pecas, passed after 2.5 months of treatment and I just couldn't cope with more

Then something magical happened by chance, by the end of January 2020 I took a leap of faith with an extremely tight budget to open up what turned out to be the business of my dreams.

A dog-friendly coffee shop, Rigoletto Dog-Friendly Cafe. Rigoletto is the name of one of my puppies, you can find our fan pages here:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/miperritorigoletto

IG: https://www.instagram.com/miperritorigoletto/

I live in a small city in northern Mexico where some parks still have signs that say "No dogs allowed" so this was HUGE for the community and I had no idea how many dogs loving people needed this. We were starting to grow and, like any business, we didn't have any real earnings yet, then COVID happened.

Just starting to see dreams come true, COVID comes along

When I started Rigoletto I already had a lot of expenses that went towards other areas, the vet being the most important expense. I had encouragement and help from friends and partners and full time at home job that paid very well which I had for almost 9 years. I was only 2.5 months into my project and not even beginning to see any earnings when the COVID situation started.

Everything got extremely complicated at the same time. I lost my job because of COVID and I don't know if a position will be available for me later on. That represented 80% of my income. I helped with social media accounts and that was 20% of my income, 2 of 4 projects are on hold right now because of COVID so I'm left with 10% of what I used to make. We are barely surviving and trying to keep a strong happy place, trying to retain jobs, pay services, and pay the rent. We have done so with credit cards but we won't be able to pay them off very soon if help doesn't happen.

We know we're not the only ones needing help desperately, we know this is a coffee place and not a person, but to me, this is my baby, the baby I never thought I but in my heart I know it was somehow meant to be. We are barely surviving now and ANY help goes a very very long way.

Help us to survive

We need to survive and if humbly asking for help can do something, I'll do it. I'll do anything for this baby of mine.

We love dogs and our project is not only to make a dog-friendly place (which is rare here) is to raise awareness on how to treat animals, their basic medical needs, on adoption, on how to feed and care for them, how to educate them so they can be around other people, and just take all the love and wisdom dogs give to us and transmit it to the people in the community.

All of the funds will be used for survival. To buy groceries, pay salaries, pay rent, water, electric services, and the internet. We're on "just keep swimming" mode and we will do ANYTHING to save this project, it's my baby, it's my dream.

So, in advance. THANK YOU, no other words but A MILLION TIMES THANK YOU.

I would be happy if you could use the [Help by sharing] button to share my project!