Foxtrot reopens Chicago's Gold Coast store, 5 months after abrupt closures
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Nearly five months after abruptly closing all of its stores, upscale grocery chain Foxtrot Café & Market reopened its Gold Coast location on Thursday.
Foxtrot said its store at 23 W. Maple St. will offer expanded coffee service and new food offerings that ultimately will be available at other stores it plans to reopen.
The Gold Coast store will offer a full-day menu featuring breakfast, lunch, and afternoon food options – including breakfast tacos, paninis, salads, cookies, and more. Coffee service will include The Milk Man Blend and Early Train Espresso created for Foxtrot cafés.
In April, Foxtrot closed all 33 of its stores in Chicago, Texas, and the Washington, D.C. area, before later filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The closures came only six months after Foxtrot merged with Dom's Kitchen & Market, which also closed all its stores in April.
Foxtrot is now back with a new ownership group – including Foxtrot co-founder Michael LaVitola – and has gathered 45 former vendors to be part of the relaunch. According to Eater Chicago, not all of Foxtrot's former brands will return. Some refused out of frustration with April's sudden store closures.
LaVitola, who was forced out as Foxtrot's CEO in early 2023, and left the board after the merger with Dom's, was brought back by the new owners to relaunch the stores after Foxtrot's assets were sold for $2.2 million at auction in May. LaVitola said they spent the summer rebuilding relationships with employees and vendors.
"We've always had a really strong business, and so I can't really speak to why everything happened the way that it did in the spring. But I think, you know, we're all excited to act with a lot of integrity, and like I said, openness, candor, and just, you know, run it the right way. So we're excited," he said.
Foxtrot has announced plans to reopen other stores in Chicago and Dallas through next year, including locations in Fulton Market and Old Town.
Former workers for Foxtrot and Dom's parent company Outfox Hospitality have filed a federal lawsuit accusing them of violating state and federal worker protection laws by closing stores and laying off staff without warning.
