Butlers Cafe

Maid cafés, where waitresses dress as maids to serve a primarily male clientele, achieved widespread popularity in Japan in the early 2000s. Butler cafés were conceived in response to their popularity, after entrepreneurs noted a rise in Internet message board postings from female otaku – devoted fans, particularly of anime and manga – who had a negative perception of maid cafés, and sought a "role-reversing alternative" to them. Women expressed their desire for an establishment where they could seek male companionship in an environment that was less costly than a host club, and more romantic and safe than a nightclub. Butlers were chosen as a male counterpart to maids, appealing to fairy tale princess fantasies.

The first butler café, Swallowtail, opened in March 2005. Swallowtail is located on Otome Road, a major shopping and cultural destination for female otaku in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, and was founded by management consulting firm Oriental Corporation and the anime and manga goods chain K-Books. In 2006, the café Butlers Café opened in Shibuya, Tokyo. Founded by former office worker Yuki Hirohata, Butlers Café employed a staff composed entirely of Western men, and allowed patrons to practice English with the butlers. Butlers Café closed in December 2018. In 2011, the butler café Refleurir opened as the first butler café in Akihabara, Tokyo, before closing in 2013. Several dansō (cross-dressing) cosplay cafés with a butler theme operate in Akihabara, in which female servers dress as male butlers.

Outside of Japan, notable butler cafés include Chitty Mood, which operates out of Taipei City Mall in Taipei, Taiwan, and Lan Yu Guan European Tea Restaurant (formerly named Michaelis), which opened in North District, Taichung, Taiwan in 2012. The first butler café in South Korea opened in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul in 2024, and gained popularity through social networking services. In North America, Europe, and Oceania, pop-up butler cafés have been hosted at anime conventions, including Anime Expo in the United States, Hücon in Turkey, and SMASH! in Australia, which was the first anime convention to host a butler café.