Six years ago, Mary Bigham launched WC Dish, a website where she and other like-minded restaurant hounds could, well, dish on the dining scene in West Chester. It was like having a knowledgable friend you could count on, and the response from the community was phenomenal. Traffic to the site grew steadily in the first year, and it never lost momentum.
“I started Dish mostly to give other local foodies a place where they could go to see my experiences,” says Bigham. “I wanted to provide a place for people like me to interact and share that love of food together.”
Eventually, Bigham was able to grow her pastime into a full-time career for herself and six staffers. She has since expanded her empire—now called The Town Dish—to include sites for Phoenixville, Downingtown, Kennett Square, Exton, Media, Chestnut Hill and the Main Line. “There are a ton of food websites for major cities like Philadelphia, but it’s these little hubs of culinary goodness in the suburbs that haven’t had a voice,” she says. “There wasn’t really anyone waving the flag of local
culinary excellence.”
Bigham has expanded her reach nationally, partnering with Southwest Airlines on Dish Trips, a Web-based food and travel feature. She also writes for OpenTable.com and Main Line Today, and hosts the radio show, Eat, Drink and Meet Mary, on West Chester’s WCHE 1520 AM.
“I didn’t necessarily want to own and run my own business when I first started my website,” she says. “Now that I am, I’m glad I’m giving other passionate foodies the chance to write about food.”
