The Heartstrings Maid Cafe was born from a belief that the US pop-up maid cafe could be improved for the average visitor- made both more accurate to the Japanese Akihabara roots they came from and made more engaging. Founder and Head Maid, Emma set out to establish her own group of dedicated volunteers who shared her vision: A top-quality pop-up cafe that put the experience of its guests above all else.
Through a few iterations, hampered as many things were in 2020, the Heartstrings Maid Cafe was finally born Valentines Day, February 14th, 2022. HSMC has been steadily growing since, picking up speed and expanding our offerings tirelessly . Starting with events local to our home base in Tallahassee FL, we collaborated with Infinitycon, a north Florida comics convention, and Florida State University’s Freecon, a free anime convention run by FSU’s anime club with a long and beloved legacy. We have also featured in community pop-ups for JACT at FSU for various holidays with our Halloween Anime Club pop-up being a perennial favorite.
At Infinitycon we have come to represent a unique piece of programing: Anime Island, with our cafe as the centerpiece! At Freecon, 2024 we received so many guests that we doubled our previous year’s attendees two-fold and received over 100 patrons for our stage show! 2024 also saw our incredibly successful first appearance at Kamicon in Birmingham AL.
Since our start we’ve been adding more conventions to our roster, but are always eager to grow! Though we are based in Florida, our intrepid maids and butlers are no strangers to travel; with plans in Alabama and Georgia!
Our Goals
Head Maid Emma founded the Heartstrings Maid Cafe in order to fill a gap in the amateur maid cafe scene. She found that, while the pop-up maid cafes of the local convention scene had been fun, her burning devotion to maid cafes always left a feeling that was room for improvement. HSMC prides itself on offering excellent service, food, and performances to its guests, while maintaining spotless professionalism and working with the conventions that host us.
Each of our maids and butlers is highly trained, and adheres to a rigorous set of rules. We use a tiered seniority system, with our newest members (Apprentice Maids) shadowing and training under senior members (Valentine Maids) during events. Maids who excel and really shine can opt to take an exam, and upon passing, become Premium Valentine Maids indicating a high level of performance, service and knowledge. You can see our current roster here!
We strive to ensure that our cafe is a safe, comfortable, and most of all fun place for convention guests to sit, snack, and watch an amazing performance. Maid Winnie, our Performance Lead, works closely will all of our performers to keep our dancing and singing top-notch. We specialize in cute, upbeat J-Pop songs, and are constantly adding songs and working on new choreography to keep things fresh.
To see all of our various offerings, click here!
Heartstrings Maid Cafe 