The cafe will open at 10320 Garland Road, Dallas, inside the same building as Griffin Rock Cat Retreat, a new luxury cat boarding facility that opened March 1. Married couple Rob and Caroline Stovall, who live in Lake Highlands, own both businesses.
The two have six rescue cats of their own, and Caroline serves as the president of A Voice For All Paws, a local nonprofit organization that rescues cats and kittens for adoption. Rob, who is the treasurer of the organization, said he and Caroline are partnering with A Voice for All Paws and donating a portion of their proceeds from the cafe and boarding facility.
Whiskers and Soda will allow guests to socialize with cats from the organization while enjoying coffee, tea and baked goods.
“It’s a venue for bringing together cats that are up for adoption [and] foster cats that need forever homes with people that might be interested in adopting a cat, or maybe they just want to go hang out with cats,” Rob said.
In 2022, A Voice for All Paws adopted out 485 rescue cats, Rob said. He said he hopes the collaboration with Whiskers and Soda as well as Griffin Rock will help facilitate an even greater number of adoptions this year.
As cat owners themselves, the Stovalls designed Griffin Rock Cat Retreat to fill a void of quality cat boarding care, Rob said. Many cat boarding facilities only offer small metal cages for their boarders, and sometimes they board cats near dogs, which can be a stressful environment, he added.
At Griffin Rock, cats are kept in individual boarding rooms that provide 6 feet by 5 feet by 8 feet of space. Each room is equipped with beds, climbing walls and a TV that streams images of cats, mice and fish. Cat owners will also receive access to a 24/7 camera inside their cat’s boarding room to watch and talk to their pet.
“Everyone can feel comfortable that their cat’s going to be at, like, a Four Seasons enjoying a little cat vacation,” Rob said.
To visit the cafe part of the building, guests will have to book a reserved time slot and pay an hourly fee. Membership options will be available, and nonmembers will be subject to walk-in availability, Rob said. He anticipates plenty of walk-in availability at the beginning of the cafe’s operations but said he expects that availability to become more limited over time.
Rob said the cafe’s full capacity will allow 40 guests, and an expected average of 15 cats will roam the cafe. However, the number of cats in the cafe will be dependent on how many sociable, friendly cats A Voice for All Paws has available and how quickly they get adopted.
214-233-6176. https://whiskersandsoda.com
