Mrs. White’s
Golden Rule Café
Since 1964
“An
The only thing
better than sitting down and enjoying some golden brown southern fried chicken,
mouth watering, smothered chicken or a pork chop dinner at Mrs. White’s Golden
Rule Café, is the amazing story of how one of Arizona’s longest operated African
American businesses came to be.
The story of
how a single African American woman with 4 young children managed
to acquire a business in the early 60’s prior to the passing of the Civil
Rights Bill and Voting Rights Act, when African American were struggling just to make
ends meet, is remarkable.
Mrs. White
arrived in
The struggling
business had more promise than customers' and eight months later Floyd informed
his sister that he was moving to
Mrs. White a
strong spiritual person prayed and asked the Lord for guidance on what to do,
go back home to
“I believe the
Lord would not have brought me here and abandoned me,” said Mrs. White, who
serves up some hot sermons on Sundays as well.
The will and
spirit to stay outweighed the desire to return to Texas, so Mrs. White
discussed the matter with her two most consistent customers – Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln
Ragsdale (both deceased).
The Ragsdales
owned and operated Universal Memorial Mortuary and Mr. R had been a highly
decorated member of the Tuskegee Airman during WWII.
The Ragsdales
gave Mrs. White a $500.00 dollar loan, as Mr. R would say, “the bank was not
loaning money to Negroes on a consistent basis, and certainly not to a Negro
woman with little or no collateral.
Mrs. White
purchased the property from her brother and set out to establish the business
under the name and concept of the “Golden Rule” – “do unto others as yea would
have them do unto you.”
The early years
were a struggle; the business was open seven days a week and 24 hours a day in
an effort to generate a profit.
Mrs. White and
her children did it all back then. Larry Sr., her second oldest handled the
evening and late night shift.
“Often times we
did not have change for a $10, so I would send one of the kids next door to buy
a small item,” recalled Mrs. White.
“The passage of
the Civil Rights Bill, Affirmative Action and other laws that allowed Black men
and women to acquire better jobs was a blessing,” said Mrs. White.
After attending
manager and food handling training, (LEAP and other city sponsored programs)
in the evening following a long day at the Cafe, Mrs. White satisfied all of the
requirements to own and operate a business that served hot meals.
The most
successful time in those early years was when the Phoenix Open would come to
town and Black caddies for the professional golfers would come in the Café
throughout the week, eat a full meal, and leave a few dollars tip.
The City
relocated the business in 1976 from its original location at 1029
In the same
year, Mrs. White was honored as the “first business” in the
Believing that the food,
not the opportunity to smoke at her business would bring customers back, Mrs.White stuck to
her decision and has remained “smoke free”.
Honored
regularly as the Best Soul Food Business by New Times Magazine, Mrs. White’s has
continued to honor their slogan – “Good food is not cheap and cheap food is not
good, we serve Good food at reasonable prices.”
Mrs. White and
Larry Sr. have contributed to the
Word of Mrs.
White’s quality food and tasty southern prepared meals has drawn customers from
all walks of life such as professional athletes, world renowned recording
artists, people from around the
If you are looking for a
quality home cooked meal, delicious home-made desserts, as well as fresh cooked vegetables
then Mrs. White’s is the place for you.
We are open 7 days a week from
Dine in or call
your order in (602) 262-9256. Located at
Mrs.
White’s – Golden Rule Café, an Arizona Landmark for 44 years.