What happened to Foxtrot?

Foxtrot, a high-end convenience store with more than 33 locations across the country, closed suddenly on April 23 with zero notice to employees. The company, which recently merged with Dom’s Kitchen, appears to be headed for bankruptcy court and even corporate employees were left in the dark about the decision.

In a statement released around 30 minutes before all the stores shut down, Outfox Hospitality (the name of the company after it merged) said it was with a “heavy heart” that it had to “inform you of a difficult decision.”

“After much consideration and evaluation, we regret to announce that Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market will be closing their doors starting on April 23, 2024.  The closure affects 2 Dom’s stores and 33 Foxtrots across Chicago, Austin, Dallas, DC areas. We explored many avenues to continue the business but found no viable option despite good faith and exhaustive efforts.”

Foxtrot appeared in 2016 in Chicago as a delivery app that mostly catered to alcohol drinkers. The company exploded during the pandemic and eventually became a sort of modern corner store, that partnered with smaller brands to offer something new to consumers. It was unusually successful for a while.

The news is especially surprising because the company was expanding so fast. In 2023, Outfox raised $18.6 million and expanded out of Chicago to Austin, Dallas and Washington D.C. Outfox also spent a lot of money securing prime real estate like the Willis Tower. There were tentative plans for expansion into New York and the rest of the country after that.

Two Dom’s restaurants were also closed, a mere six months after the merge and only a few after the hiring of new CEO Rob Twyman. Dom’s debuted in 2021 as a new type of store from the founder of Mariano’s grocery store, Bob Mariano.

In addition to the closings, hundreds of workers are now without a job. Employees told CBS they were blindsided by the news and didn’t have any inkling at all about what was going on behind the scenes at the company.

The company may have also violated labor law because in Illinois, employers have to give employees a 60 day written notice about layoffs or closing as per the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. That’s something that will probably be worked out in court. In it’s statement, the company thanked “each and every one of you for your loyalty and trust in Dom’s and Foxtrot. It has been an honor to serve you, and we will cherish the memories we have created together.”