Maid café

Summary

Maid cafés are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants found predominantly in Japan and Taiwan. In these cafés, waitresses, dressed in maid costumes, act as servants and treat customers as masters, as if they were in a private home, rather than as café patrons. The first permanent maid café, Cure Maid Café, was established in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, in March 2001, and they have since become popular across the country. Increased competition drove the cafés to employ more diversified themes, gimmicks, and even unusual tactics to attract customers. They have also expanded overseas to several countries, including the United States.