Foxtrot co-founder set to re-open 6 Chicago locations

Nearly two months after all Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market locations abruptly closed, it seems Foxtrot will launch again this summer.

Wednesday morning, Foxtrot Market’s Instagram page displayed a single post, reading “A new Foxtrot with some old friends. Coming soon.” A photo of the sky with orange, purple and pink clouds was included.

Former CEO Mike LaVitola is creating a new parent company and planning to open about a dozen stores, Crain’s Chicago reported.

“It’s a totally new company starting from scratch, but (we) have the Foxtrot name and the (intellectual property) and a bunch of our locations,” LaVitola told Crain’s. “We’re like a new start-up again.”

Co-founder and former CEO Mike LaVitola, pictured in 2021, is creating a new parent company to open about a dozen stores. Credit: Foxtrot Market

LaVitola will be the executive chairman and David Magruder of Further Point Enterprises—the firm that won an auction of Foxtrot’s assets on May 10—will serve as interim chief financial officer. Magruder invested in Foxtrot years ago, Crain’s reported.

LaVitola stepped away from his role as Foxtrot’s CEO in early 2023 and was an adviser to Outfox Hospitality, the parent company formed when Foxtrot and Dom’s merged last year. He told Crain’s he was surprised the stores closed.

Foxtrot was not generating profits before the merger, he told Crain’s. He was not closely involved after the merger, however.

Related:The Gist – What does the Dom's and Foxtrot news mean for CPG?

Auction, bankruptcy filing followed closing

Further Point Enterprises paid $2.2 million for Foxtrot’s assets, which included goods, equipment, intellectual property such as private-label recipes, and more.

Outfox Hospitality filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on May 14, estimating its value between $10 million and $50 million. When the company closed in April, it had 33 stores in Chicago, eight in Texas and seven in and around Washington, D.C., according to Eater Chicago.

Further Point Enterprises has signed new leases for six locations in Chicago, CSP Daily News reports, citing U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings. Those stores are in the neighborhoods of Fulton Market, Gold Coast, Old Town, River North and Wicker Park, where two locations have been leased.

Eater Chicago reported that reopened stories will continue to have the same layout and merchandising and focus on small, local makers.

The company hasn’t announced which Texas locations will reopen.

None of the locations in Washington, D.C., will reopen, a spokesperson told Restaurant Business. The bankruptcy trustee has recommended the remaining unexpired leases be terminated as “they have no economic value and are not in any way helpful to the administration of the estates,” CSP Daily News said.

Foxtrot also held leases on storage spaces, parking lots and commissaries, where staff prepared grab-and-go foods, the court records show, according to CSP Daily News.

Some of Foxtrot’s previous landlords aren’t interested in hosting the business again, according to The Real Deal, a real-estate news site. The owner of the former Southport Corridor location and an owner of a former Lincoln Park site said they weren’t interested, The Real Deal reported on May 14.

Corporate employees and store managers learned about the company’s closing during a conference call just a few hours before the stores were shut down. About 1,000 employees were left without jobs; Outfox didn’t file the required WARN Act notices with the states in which it operated, either.

Several former employees sued Outfox for not giving them the required notice, Crain’s reported in April. Some employees told Eater Chicago that managers have asked if they are interested in returning to the new stores.