White Dog Café

What it does: local food restaurant and community center
Web site: www.whitedog.com
Based: Philadelphia, Pa.
Founded: 1983
Employees: 90
Revenue: $4.4 million (2008)

Founded by Judy Wicks in 1983, the White Dog Café is both a local food restaurant and hub of progressive business activism. Wicks helped found the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, a network of local business groups, and the business helps fund the nonprofit White Dog Community Enterprises to support local food. The café hosts events and organizes tours to support its social mission and tries to keep prices in check to cater to middle-class customers. But White Dog's commitment to social causes has held back the company's profits.

Read the complete case study

next slide previous slide