Hard Charging Coffee Haven to Open New Shops in Uptown Dallas, Fort Worth — White Rhino is Spreading With New Perks

White Rhino Coffee first burst onto the North Texas scene with a coffee house in Cedar Hill in 2007. A decade later, a second White Rhino opened in Red Oak and another shop in Waxahachie followed in 2018.

The next expansion came in 2020, when owner Chris Parvin and The Parvin Group introduced two more new coffee shops ― in Bishop Arts and Arlington.

Next up, White Rhino Coffee is prepping to open two more new coffee shops this spring. The first in Uptown Dallas, at 2909 Thomas Avenue, is set to open by mid-March. Another will open in May in Fort Worth ― taking over the former Potbelly space at 1201 8th Avenue, at the corner of Magnolia.

Both new White Rhino Coffee shops are a bold move, heading into territory already brimming with other independent shops and corporate coffee brands. Then again, when you are an endangered species with one imposing tusk such as White Rhino, you just may be up to the challenge.

“Coffee is a multi-billion dollar business,” Parvin tells PaperCity Fort Worth. “We are only playing against ourselves. We’ve seen our brand loyalty increase steadily since opening 13 years ago, and we’re ready to push out the tent legs and expand the brand.”

Parvin’s focus all along has been concentrating on three key areas for success: product (quality coffee and food), place (beautiful and clean coffee house environments) and people (customer service is paramount).

Some White Rhino Coffee shops have more extensive menus than others. Some include bistro style lunches served weekdays between 11 am and 2 pm (including sandwiches and salads) and even a full brunch menu from 7 am to 2 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (including stuffed French toast with mascarpone and compote, and a hash brown Benedict). Other White Rhinos stick to a Quick Bites menu of breakfast tacos and pastries.

Signature coffee drinks include the German Chocolate with chocolate, almond and coconut, and the Mint Condition with mint, white chocolate and vanilla. There is also a nice selection of hot and iced tea specialty drinks to sip.

A New Signature Space

When the Uptown Dallas White Rhino opens it will be inhabiting the former Londerer Pub space. That means two stories and a 4,000 square feet of room.

“I am super excited about this one,” Parvin says. “We purchased it over a year ago and have been in renovation ever since. It will have an upper and lower patio, and a full menu.”

The new Uptown Dallas shop will also be the first White Rhino Coffee shop to add alcohol to its menu. Think brunch mimosas. Then, plans call for alcohol drinks it added to all White Rhino menus.

“It won’t change the feel of the spaces at all,” Parvin says. “It’s just another thing we can offer our customers.”

Currently, Dallas-based Tweed coffees serves as White Rhino’s house beans. That will change when the company opens its first roastery within the next few months at 1607 Fort Worth Avenue (near the Belmont Hotel). You’ll begin to see White Rhino’s first roasts show up later this year, and they will become the house roasts next year.

“Eventually the roastery hopes to offer cupping classes to the public,” Parvin says.

And this coffee expansion is just getting started.

White Rhino is in the final leasing stages of adding a new coffee shop in downtown Dallas. Parvin also has his sights set on opening a second coffee house in Arlington, and is even exploring a drive-thru only concept at a kiosk in Midlothian.

Soon, we might find ourselves caught up in a stampede of White Rhinos galloping across the state of Texas. Bringing plenty of perks.