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Judy Wicks
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
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i. Biography
Judy Wicks built White Dog Café in University City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ran it from 1983 to 2009, using the restaurant as a platform for local sourcing and civic action.
The Path
White Dog Cafe in University City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1983–2009) became Judy Wicks’s defining early-career work: a restaurant that linked place-based cooking to the local economy rather than treating those concerns as separate tracks. Since 2001, the work moved beyond the dining room. Judy Wicks co-founded Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) and founded White Dog Cafe Foundation, now White Dog Community Enterprises, extending the same local-enterprise thinking into organized advocacy and community infrastructure.
In Their Words “I don’t compare myself to Alice Waters. She’s a widely recognised chef. She started to create the wave that I and many others rode, in terms of just the right moment to have a restaurant that featured local food.” “I use good food to lure innocent customers into social action.”
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Judy
Where did Judy Wicks work before?
Judy Wicks's earlier career included White Dog Cafe.
What recognition has Judy Wicks received?
Living Economy Award (2002).
