When Foxtrot relaunches in September and reopens its Gold Coast store, the chain of shoppy shops will stock items from many local brands familiar to fans.
Foxtrot co-founder Mike LaVitola is back leading the newly formed company, separate from Outfox Hospitality, the entity that filed for bankruptcy in May. . It’s supported by New York-based private holding company Further Point Enterprises. The new Foxtrot has gathered 45 former vendors to be part of the relaunch. The list is packed with Chicago brands like Metric Coffee, Marz Community Brewing, All Together Now, Big Fat Cookie, Do-Rite Donuts, Tempesta Market, and Freeman House Chai.
But not all brands will return. Some refused, frustrated by the sudden closures, saying they’re focusing on other retail opportunities. Others, for example, Tortello, the Wicker Park pasta restaurant, weren’t asked to return. Foxtrot does have an agreement with Gemma Foods, a West Town pasta maker. While LaVitola praised the product, he says the new version of Foxtrot will be more curated.
“While it sounds good that you have all this choice, you actually kind of lose your point of view,” LaVitola says. “And it just becomes, you know, it becomes too hard to manage.”
LaVitola adds he’s seen a lot of brands he’s wanted to add over the last year or two: “Now I get the chance to do that, which is just exciting.”
While the initial plan was to open eight Foxtrots in Chicago, with Old Town following Gold Coast, more locations are on their way including “a couple in Texas.” In June, LaVitola floated the comeback would include around 15 stores total. There are no plans to reopen in D.C. LaVitola, who founded Foxtrot in 2013, teased the unannounced reopenings of locations on Wicker Park’s Six Corners and inside the Willis Tower: “We’re looking to open new stores once we feel like we’ve got our operations, just totally, totally nailed down in the stores that we have,” LaVitola says. He adds there will also be changes to the coffee and hot food options with details upcoming.
Many brands have benefited from selling items at Foxtrot, which gives them a chance to grow their customer base and draw attention from bigger national retailers. However, much of that goodwill evaporated on April 23 when the chain, the 33 locations scattered in Chicago, Texas, and Washington, D.C., closed without warning. For the past four months, vendors have been licking their wounds trying to figure out how to make up for lost sales and inventory. After LaVitola regained control of Foxtrot, part of a group that made a $2.2 million winning auction bid in May, Foxtrot 2.0 began making its pitches to vendors, attempting to convince them they had learned from past mistakes, that the new venture would return Foxtrot to its roots in aiding small businesses by showcasing their trendy snacks to diners who frequent chic restaurants with disposable income to spend on items made by well-known chefs.
LaVitola says it’s been a whirlwind few months as he “gets the band back together” in talking with the old company’s former workers, landlords, and vendors, using them to knit the new entity. His role changed at the original Foxtrot in April 2023 after the company named Liz Williams as chief executive officer. Lavitola says he was no longer in control of the company, even though listed as a non-executive chairman: “Probably advisor is the best title,” he says.
In November 2023, Foxtrot would later morph into Outfox Hospitality after merging with Dom’s Kitchen & Market, a two-location grocery chain that also had designs on expansion.
Vendors who spoke with Eater shared trust issues and worried that Foxtrot needed accountability for putting hundreds of workers out of jobs without warning. Many weren’t paid for their food delivered, which remained at stores, visible through windows. Some received court notices as Foxtrot’s original company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. They were free to fill out paperwork to pursue payments, but vendors had little hope that they would recover any money.
LaVitola and company were involved in several email exchanges and meetings to convince vendors to return. Justin Doggett of cold brew coffee maker Kyoto Black is part of the relaunch and was assured that the mistakes of the old Foxtrot wouldn’t be repeated as LaVitola wasn’t involved in that version of the company. He saw it as a positive when he saw former Foxtrot workers were back with the company. After Foxtrot closed, Kyoto Black was left scrambling looking for ways to sell its coffee to make up for lost sales.
Doggett acknowledges there’s a narrative of LaVitola capitalizing on a devalued company, snatching it up, and restarting it without accountability. He says that’s not true.
“The guy who founded it was not involved when this happened,” Doggett says. “…He saw an opportunity to kind of take this company that he started and buy it back and kind of like, uh, revitalize the image and the mission of it.”
Foxtrot has begun offering cash on delivery to more vendors. That’s not a change for wine and beer makers but for other vendors — especially ones who make their items fresh, items that aren’t shelf stable — payment up front provides peace of mind. LaVitola mentions improving vendor communication about the number and frequency of deliveries and marketing support. Vendors also mentioned they don’t have long-term agreements in place. They can leave if the situation goes sideways.
One vendor that wasn’t listed on the Foxtrot’s news release was Pretty Cool Ice Cream, the dessert company founded by former Publican pastry chef Dana Salls Cree. LaVitola says the provided list was preliminary. Customers will still be able to buy Pretty Cool bars at Foxtrot. Salls Cree confirms Foxtrot has ordered an assortment of her ice cream shop’s classic flavors. Pretty Cool wants to take advantage of Foxtrot customers who use the chain to connect with local products, Salls Cree says. However, there won’t be any special flavor collaborations in the near future. As Foxtrot remained in limbo, Salls Cree began partnering with other parties; Foxtrot lost its place on the collaboration schedule. Given the abrupt shutdown of the original venture and given how the company left so many high and dry, Salls Cree took her time weighing the pros and cons of returning to Foxtrot.
“It’s such a sliver of our business,” she says. “But the question that keeps coming in — ’why is this taking up so much emotional bandwidth?’”
James Beard Award winner Mindy Segal says she hasn’t been doing business with Foxtrot since Mindy’s Bakery opened in Bucktown. Foxtrot has sold Mindy’s branded hot chocolate mixes and other items. Segal says they have plenty of other business but would consider working with Foxtrot in the future.
Meanwhile, Marz Community Brewing will once again sell beer and other beverages at Foxtrot. As the craft beer market has imploded, it’s important for Marz to be available in as many stores as possible, says Ed Marszewski. He’s hopeful the new ownership can clean up the “garbage fire” left by the previous regime.
“They are going back to doing right to small guys, indies, etc. a platform,” Marszewski says. “We need places like this. Pre-merger, they really helped small manufacturers get traction. I think they want to do right again. Plus, they didn’t screw us over — our invoices were always paid.”
Hannah Harris Green contributed to this report
Ashok Selvam
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