How did Judy Wicks' life experience affect her decision to start her own business? To tailor her business to reflect her personal, social and political beliefs?

What challenges did Wicks face in expanding her take-out muffin store to a fledgling restaurant?

What are some potential hazards of marketing a restaurant on personal philosophies? How do you think Wicks' life experiences will help her to expand the success of her restaurant? Why?

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When she started her own cafe, by Laura M. Wattenberg, Wicks' inventiveness and eye for opportunity kept the business under the supervision of expanding both in size and scope. The cafe soon grew into a full-service Kathleen A. Meyer, restaurant, with Wicks' enthusiasm and quirky taste an important part executive director of The of the package. Business Enterprise Trust. Despite the restaurant's growing success, however, Wicks felt that her business was not reaching its full potential, not only financially, but socially and culturally. Wicks herself was a politically-minded community advocate with a flair for entertainment. Concerned that her business, and the Philadelphia business community in general, were becoming too isolated from the city's diverse civic life, Wicks wanted to incorporate broader community concerns- issues such as diversity and urban revitalization - into her restaurant's operations. follifaqmo) ayaw want tot bostool Early Entrepreneurship Wicks graduated from Lake Erie College in 1969, soon married, and with her husband served a stint as a VISTA volunteer in an Eskimo village in Alaska. The couple settled down near the University of Pennsylvania and, sensing a market, started an alternative clothing store. Not Although the store flourished, the marriage did not. Soon afterwards," Wicks decided to pursue a new career path. Wicks began waiting tables at a popular French restaurant, Lad Terrasse, whose hanging plants and chalkboard menus were at the forefront of a 1970s trend. "In 1974 she was named vice president and general manager, and within five years she had boosted gross revenues from $300,000 to $1.5 million. Although she had been promised an equity stake in the restaurant, the business later closed due to a dispute among Copyright @ 1996 by The Business Enterprise Trust, The Business Enterprise Trust is a national non-profit organization that honors exemplary acts of courage, integrity and social vision in business. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, oris transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, recording, or others without the permission of The Business Enterprise Trust. Please call (415) 321-5100 or write The Business Enterprise Trust, 204 Junipero Serra Blvd., Stanford, CA 94305. Harvard Business School Publishing is the exclusive distributor of this publication. To order copies or to request permission to photocopy, please call (800) 545-7685 or write Harvard Business School Publishing, Customer Service Dept., 60 Harvard Way, Boston, MA 02163. This document is authorized for educator review use only by Patricia Torres, University of Detroit Marcy until Jui 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright, Permissions@hosp.harvard edu or 617.783,7860Judy Wicks (A) the owners, leaving Wicks with "a nothing share of minded spirit that had led her to Alaska with VISTA, nothing" and no job. and she was convinced that this spirit was Undaunted, Wicks opened her own carry-out compatible with her core business objectives. Her muffin shop in the neighborhood of the University new goal was to integrate her personal, political, of Pennsylvania, just below her second-story and social beliefs with her business, in a way that apartment. One day when there was a line of would stimulate growth for her restaurant, and customers waiting to be served, she moved a table spark a sense of community. down from her apartment and invited everyone to take a seat. Soon she hired a waitress and started serving hot food cooked on a barbecue in her back yard. Dishes were washed in a sink in the dining room, and the public bathroom was upstairs in her apartment. The new restaurant was named The OIW YOUL White Dog Cafe. The next year, with a $75,000 loan from a friend, Wicks finally built a small kitchen with a grill and expanded the restaurant into the adjacent brownstone. In the mid-1980s, Wicks refinanced her ww slide a brownstone, built a full kitchen in the basement, obtained a liquor license and began offering a more sophisticated menu. She transformed the first-floor space into a series of airy, exposed-wood, bare-brick dining nooks with an intimate feel, complete with lace curtains, dog figurines and whimsical canine art. Later, Wicks annexed the space of a third brownstone, expanding seating capacity at the White Dog to 200. The Cafe's homey atmosphere and first-class menu made it an increasingly popular choice for diners from all areas of the city. Competition remained fierce, however, and Wicks looked for new ways to expand the restaurant's reach. New Directions Wicks was convinced that her business had a far greater potential than it had yet realized. Working long days and nights at the White Dog, she became concerned that she - and her business - were becoming too isolated from the community that surrounded them, and the issues of the day. Further, she saw Philadelphia's diversity increasingly factionalized, which she felt was a threat to the continuing economic vitality of the city's urban core. A city which emptied out in the evenings, as business people fled to the suburbs, could hardly support a thriving restaurant trade. In addition, Philadelphia was already a highly competitive environment for dining establishments, and Wicks needed to further distinguish her cafe to survive in the long term. Wicks herself retained the activist, community- 2 This document is authorized for educator review use only by Patricia Torres, University of Detroit Mercy until Jul 2022. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@hosp.harvard edu or 617.783.7860