Philly’s White Dog Café Works to “Get It Right”
Top Virginia Manager & Top Chicago Chef Soon to Join Team
By Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen
Eight months after Philadelphia social activist Judy Wicks sold her renowned local-food mecca, the White Dog Café, to restaurant mogul Marty Grims, the restaurant is still undergoing a difficult transition. But both Wicks and Grims say the restaurant will soon be better than ever, particularly with changes in both the front and the back of the house kicking in between now and the beginning of October.
Grims says he recently hired Andrew Welch, formerly general manager of The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, as director of operations/partner. (Welch resigned at The Inn at Little Washington in June. Employees there were unable to confirm his new post, and Welch was unavailable for comment on this story.)
“We’ve just hired a new chef,” Grims also says. Although he declined to name names, he says of the new culinary helmsman, “He’s one of the country’s premier chefs….This is a person that comes from some great serious kitchens in Chicago and New York, very highly respected kitchens.” Grims says that “without a doubt” the chef, who is expected to start October 1, has experience routinely dealing with local small-scale producers, and he is committed to Wicks’ vision for local, sustainable, seasonal food. “This is the way he wants to spend the rest of his career.”
For Grims, whose other Philadelphia restaurants include Moshulu and Du Jour, the new hires are part of his strategy to get the menu back up to Wicks’ trend-setting high standards. In fact, under the terms of his contract, he is required to do so to retain the name.
“I sold the business in January (2009), but it was a unique sale,” Wicks notes. “I did not sell the name. I licensed the name with a social contract.” That social contract stipulates that the restaurant continue in Wicks’ tradition of buying in-season foods from local farmers, utilizing 100 percent renewable electricity, purchasing only humanely raised and pastured meat and poultry, and maintaining other environmentally friendly practices. Wicks says Grims is taking steps to get it where it needs to be. “They don’t have it right yet,” she says. “They want to get it right.”
In the wake of the sale, many of the employees were fired, and some of them subsequently went on to write scathing reports on the internet about the transition, including critiques of new kitchen practices. Now, however, “the dust is settling,” both for Grims and the former employees, some of whom she’s seen recently, says Wicks.
“I did a review a few months ago,” says Wicks, noting she called for some “corrections.” A new audit is coming up to find out who the restaurant is buying from, she says. “The last resort is that I would take the name back. I hope that doesn’t happen.”
Wicks says she sold the restaurant for two main reasons: to reduce her work load and focus more on the nationwide Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE), of which she is a co-founder. Also the founder of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, and president of the non-profit White Dog Community Enterprises, she continues to work on those projects as well. “I’m retiring. I’m in my 60s,” she says. “My interest is in sustainable and local economies. I work full time as a volunteer for BALLE…. That’s my main focus.”
Recently, some items on the White Dog menu were out-of-season, while other foods weren’t local, when local alternatives were likely available. Yet, based on recent developments, Wicks says she thinks Grims can pull it together. “I’m highly optimistic…. I feel like they’re very serious about this. They’re not about to ruin the value of the brand,” says Wicks, adding that they’re doing “everything possible” to keep up the café’s reputation and credibility, which makes good business sense.
For his part, Grims emphasizes that local food and sustainable business are key to the White Dog brand, which he wants to continue, but that he also wants to reenergize and improve the quality of the food preparation, service and ambience. “The White Dog is an incredible brand,” Grims says. “We have a social contract with Judy, which she is definitely a stickler about,” he says. “The goal here is to maintain the brand. We think the brand has more significant now than ever. We are committed to the vision.”
Ingredients at the White Dog were and still are “spectacular,” but the overall experience in recent years left foodies wanting, according to Grims. “I feel it became less relevant in food circles,” Grims says. “It’s our objective that the White Dog is one of the top five restaurants of Philadelphia. What Chez Panisse is in San Francisco, we want the White Dog to be in Philadelphia.”
Grims had announced plans to open another White Dog in Wayne, Pennsylvania, in June, but he says that debut is behind schedule. “It probably won’t be open until winter time … this year.”
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