Four White Rhino cafe managers fired after objecting to drastic new uniform policy

White Rhino Coffee is a Dallas-born and brewed coffee shop. After originally opening in 2007 as a third space for all, the aqua-hued cafe now has more than a dozen locations across North Texas. Now, as it takes on a new phase of expansion, the company faces accusations of dismantling its historically inclusive workplace culture as it seeks to make significant changes to its look.

Early this year, the corporate office instructed cafe employees to offer ICE agents first-responder discounts during what was a tense time for the country in the wake of Renee Good being shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Just a few months prior to that, the Dallas ICE field office was the site of a deadly sniper shooting that gained international attention.

With a Hispanic, Black, queer and transgender staff, not to mention frequent international travelers at the downtown location, shop manager Margot Stacy was nervous about the regular presence of ICE agents from a nearby facility. She inadvertently triggered the first-responder directive when she asked leadership if they could refuse service to agents. That’s when leadership told cafes, ironically on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, that not only would they have to serve ICE agents, but they would be required to extend a first-responder discount to them.

The company later rescinded the policy, but the damage was done: several employees walked out.

A slice of American pie

A couple of months prior to the ICE agent controversy, White Rhino bought Emporium Pies, an Oak Cliff-born shop with several locations around North Texas.

Emporium Pies has a distinct look. The original Oak Cliff shop is bathed in cream tones. Workers have a wholesome vintage-chic aesthetic that definitely has its own Pinterest board. A literal slice of American pie. What’s this got to do with beans? Hold the line.

White Rhino called a managers’ summit in late June to introduce new policies as the coffee shop absorbs the pie company. With these new policies, cafe workers accustomed to wearing casual, nonspecific attire will be required to wear khaki pants and white shirts.

Additionally, there are strict new protocols for piercings, hair color and tattoos. Current employees of White Rhino Coffee would be required to comply with these new policies, regardless of any piercings, hair color, or tattoos they had when hired by the coffee shop. According to several managers at the summit, each employee would receive $25 to buy their new khakis and shirts.

The new look with a cost

White Rhino founder Chris Parvin attended that meeting. He’s a lawyer and founder of the Parvin Law Group. In 2019, he bought a lot in Highland Park listed at $5.9 million (not a house, just the lot). In 2022, he told the Observer that his mission with his burgeoning cafe business was “not about how can we go out to make a billion dollars, but for me, it’s about how can we truly create a sense of community where people feel like they have friends.”

The June managers’ summit got tense — staff fretted over hair color, piercings, tattoos, low wages and a $25 fund for a new wardrobe for a full-time job. (A pair of khaki chinos from Old Navy is $34.99 with a 30% discount at the time of writing.)

How many hours of work for one outfit?

Rachell Bell was a manager at the White Rhino Coffee Cypress Waters for just over a year. Aside from the new uniforms, she was immediately concerned about her staff, many of whom are LGBTQ+ with visible forms of self-expression that are central to who they are.

“This financial burden is not incidental,” Bell wrote in a statement to the Observer. “White Rhino Coffee consistently pays its baristas below the median wage for the industry, with hourly rates reported under $9 per hour. Manager compensation, while higher, barely constitutes a livable wage by any reasonable standard.”

Bell spoke up at the meeting. She asked how many hours they would need to work to afford five days’ worth of uniforms. She told management that she could not afford this herself. She also mentioned her own neck and collarbone tattoos. She and several other managers started talking during the meeting.

She stepped out of the meeting to collect herself. Those colleagues — Paloma Ortiz, Lori Subialdea, and Autumn Stevens — followed her.

Bell says a member of management told the group to go home and think about their future with the company, but she hung around. She didn’t want to go home.

“They explicitly told us not to return to the summit for the afternoon session,” Bell says. “We stepped out to collect ourselves. Fully intending to come back.”

Bell stood outside and waited for about two hours; she wanted to talk to an executive. Then, she figured it could be a long time before leadership left — waiting might be futile — so she went to her car. While she was pulling out of the parking lot, she saw everyone exiting. “I was upset that I had lost my chance,” she says.

The next day she was fired. The three others who went outside were also fired.

None had ever had any disciplinary action or write-ups in their time with the company.

Severance? None.

Bell’s termination notice reads, “Based on the employee’s conduct during the Manager’s Summit.”

In a statement to the Observer, a spokesperson for Emporium Pies wrote that the decision was based on conduct that created a disruption that was inconsistent with expectations for leadership.

Three of the managers were queer. Bell was advocating for her employees, most of whom are queer. They now say they feel they were targeted.

“We strongly and unequivocally deny any allegation that these employment decisions were discriminatory or retaliatory,” wrote the spokesperson for Emporium Pies.

‘That was my home’

Bell now has leads on a couple of other jobs. She is passionate about running a cafe; her LinkedIn profile shows a long history in the field. Some of the prospects are promising, although one canceled an interview five minutes beforehand. Missing two weeks of work hurts. The three other managers are also looking for jobs and have set up a GoFundMe.

Bell says she loved her job, despite harsh policies from leadership. On the phone, she gets emotional about the crew and store she left behind.

“It breaks my heart [to lose this job] because that was my home. I made that cafe. I opened it, and it’s been destroyed in less than two weeks,” she says.

Even if her beliefs no longer aligned with the company’s, she would have preferred to stay and find another job while still employed, protecting herself with a salary. She aims to be self-sufficient.

“Personally, if I had been hired onto a company and there was already a dress code established, I would do it,” she says. “But the extreme change made me take a huge pause because it would put my current employees in a place where they would not want to be there. Because part of my environment that I created is that we accept everybody. Dress clean, but I don’t care if you have piercings or purple hair. It’s part of who they are.”