Four and half months after suddenly closing stores in Chicago, Texas, and Washington, D.C., Foxtrot will attempt a comeback by opening its first store this week. Outfox Hospitality, the company that ran those 33 stores filed for bankruptcy in May, leaving a wake of angry vendors, workers scrambling to find new jobs, and accusations of breaking federal labor law. Since then, a new entity has been formed by the chain’s co-founder who says he’ll return the company to its roots by showcasing cool snacks made by local artisans and avoid the pitfalls that lead to the chain’s failure.
The first store is scheduled to open on Thursday, September 5 at 23 W. Maple Street in Gold Coast, according to a news release. An Old Town location at the corner of North Avenue and Wells Street will follow, though an opening date hasn’t been announced. A few vendors Eater spoke with last week said one of the reasons they joined the comeback effort is Foxtrot isn’t rushing to reopen all the stores they closed. Mike LaVitola, who founded Foxtrot in 2013, and is now chairman of the newly named Foxtrot Cafe & Market. He was part of an effort that bought Foxtrot’s assets in an auction for $2.5 million. LaVitola told Eater he wanted to focus on “getting it right” at individual locations rather than opening multiple stores at once. The initial plan announced was to open about 15 stores scattered in Chicago and Texas, with the majority in Chicago. There are two new details from the company’s latest release: They’re not specifying the number of stores anymore (last week, LaVitola said they were negotiating leases in unannounced locations including Wicker Park and Willis Tower.) The other details might be bitter for those in Austin, Texas, as it appears Foxtrot is focusing on reopening in Dallas, at least in the interim. Austin was home to four locations.
The closures caused a nationwide commotion in April, with a combination of anger (a class-action lawsuit alleging Outfox violated federal law by failing to provide proper notice for a mass layoff is pending; October 1 is the next court date), sadness (customers who lived nearby grew attached, one famously bemoaned moving to their residence to be near a Foxtrot), and resentment (some South Siders who had never been to a Foxtrot wondered why folks were being so dramatic). Foxtrot had found a niche in North Side Chicago neighborhoods as a corner store with trendy snacks, a coffee bar, and a cafe space to get work done or to sip wine or beer. It was a kind of third place for former office workers who had transitioned into a hybrid work-from-home schedule during the pandemic. Foxtrot saw an opportunity to scale, and after merging with local Chicago grocer Dom’s Kitchen & Market — which also had its own ambitious expansion plans — in 2022, Foxtrot announced intentions to open as many as 100 locations by 2024. By that point, LaVitola was no longer chief executive officer. He says he was pushed out to an advisory role. Foxtrot began opening in neighborhoods with pricey real estate like Fulton Market and at Wrigley Field. They were spending in the hope of getting noticed.
That detail is important as vendors have been gunshy about joining Foxtrot 2.0 and worried the chain would repeat mistakes. LaVitola told them he wasn’t involved in a leadership role at Outfox. Some have accepted LaVitola’s reassurances, saying they need Foxtrot’s customer base. Others have picked other retail routes.
But, as LaVitola points out, Foxtrot is about more than gourmet gummies or hot dog-flavored potato chips. The coffee bar was “the biggest revenue driver” — it was so much that nearby coffee shops were losing business to Foxtrot. The previous interaction of Foxtrot made a big deal of partnering with Philadelphia’s La Colombe. That relationship will continue, but the new Foxtrot will also stock items from local roasters Metric and Kyoto Black. They’re also adding new food items to complement its morning breakfast tacos, which will remain. Look for new panini sandwiches, salads, lunch bowls, and cookies.
Expect to see growing pains. As of last week, LaVitola wasn’t sure if customers would need to create new profiles on the store’s app, which was vital to the chain’s business. Before it was a brick-and-mortar, Foxtrot used its app for liquor and beer delivery. Still, LaVitola says he’s committed to “delivering an awesome experience in the stores.” One way is making sure customers better connect with the stories behind the people who make their products. He feels the previous iteration of Foxtrot relied too much on its website to do that.
“There’s just going to be a lot more of that content — for lack of a better word — and storytelling happening in the store versus online,” LaVitola says. “Online is still really important, and it’s still there, but I think that gap is going to be bridged.”