The White Dog Cafe

Today, the White Dog Café and the Black Cat total $4.4 million in annual sales, down from a high of $5 million several years back. The scale of operations—seating for about 250 people—has not changed much since the early expansions in the 1980s. Despite this, Judy reports, “For, the first twenty years we grew every year in sales, but rather than continual physical growth, we grew deeper by expanding our educational programs and growing our sustainable business model.”

Until the recent sale, the White Dog Café was an S-Corporation and Judy the sole owner. This wasn’t always the case, however. “During our earlier years, the manager and the chef each owned some of the restaurant. I didn’t have enough money to pay the manager when she first started at the muffin shop [the precursor to today’s full- service restaurant]....so I paid her in stock. She stayed ten years and owned ten percent, while the chef owned five percent until he left five years ago.”

The performance of the White Dog as a restaurant business has been impressive. True, nearly half of Americans’ food budget these days goes to eating out, but their priority is fare that’s fast and cheap—and Judy’s is neither. At the higher rungs of the industry, restaurants become faddish, then obsolete, faster than hula-hoops and yo-yos.

One reason regulars keep coming back is that the food is superb and reasonably priced. Judy searches for high- quality ingredients, fresh and local, whenever possible. Customers also are drawn to the steady stream of speakers, art openings, and special events, all advertised through a quarterly newsletter that contains Judy’s sharp commentary on world affairs. “I think the community events identify the restaurant, our values, and what we stand for. I assume that’s a big part of our success. We get customers at certain events that wouldn’t normally come and build a community of shared values among our clientele.”

The programs of the White Dog are perhaps its most unique signature, along with its fresh local food with moderate prices. “There are some restaurants like mine...that buy from local farmers like Chez Panisse. But they don’t do all the programming. Nora in Washington, D.C., she’s organic, but her prices are a lot higher. We can’t do that because we’re on a campus in Philly, which isn’t New York City or DC.” The White Dog, while not cheap, is able to draw a steady traffic of budget-conscious students.

Judy has always viewed the White Dog not just as a restaurant but as a platform for social change. “I think that the type of programming we do—more and more focusing on local food, sustainability forums, corn dinners, sustainable fish dinners—are educating on what I feel are the crucial issues of our time. We do farm tours, solar house tours, water conservation workshops—these are the things that people need to know. That has become part of our product along with food and service.”

Mindful of her global mission, Judy struggles to balance within the restaurant business the three P’s: profit, people, and planet. “When I have a good year profit-wise, I try to figure out how to make business more socially sustainable... like offering benefits and healthcare and 401(k)s to our servers.”

Her triple bottom line initiatives are impressive. Judy has steadily sought to localize her ingredients and educate her customers about supplying farmers and food producers. For items she must import, like coffee and cocoa, she prioritizes fair trade sources. She opted into a local green energy program, making the White Dog’s electricity 100% regional wind power. She pays her lowest-rung employees a “living wage” to ensure that full-time work raises the beneficiary family above the poverty line.