Further Point Enterprises and Mike LaVitola Plan To Resuscitate Some of Upscale Grocer Foxtrot’s Locations
On April 23, 2024, the Chicago-based operator of Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market announced the closure of all store locations amid plans to file for bankruptcy, according to Forbes. Chicago Reader writes that one thousand people were out of work with hours’ notice. The decision affected 33 Foxtrot locations across Chicago, Austin, Dallas, and Washington, DC, along with the two Dom’s stores in Chicago, according to Axios, which reports that the upscale hybrid market-cafés were popular local spots for artisanal snacks and gourmet food, as well as good places to work remotely.
Foxtrot Market and Dom’s Kitchen & Market agreed to merge last year under a new entity called Outfox Hospitality (“Outfox”), according to Specialty Food News. Progressive Grocer reports that during the week of May 13, 2024, Outfox filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, claiming that it cannot pay its creditors and listed its value and liabilities between $10 million and $50 million, with a range of 5,001 to 10,000 creditors. The report also states that on May 10, 2024 (prior to filing for bankruptcy) DLA Piper—the law firm that works with Foxtrot creditor JPMorgan Chase & Co.—conducted an online auction of Foxtrot’s assets and that a private holding company called Further Point Enterprises made the solo and winning bid ($2.2 million) for Foxtrot’s assets.1
According to The Real Deal, Mike LaVitola,2 who founded Foxtrot in 2013, is believed to be working with New York-based Further Point Enterprises to reopen multiple locations in Chicago and Texas. However, the new Foxtrot ownership isn’t planning to reopen any Washington, DC stores, according to the report (citing “sources”). C-Store Dive reports, citing a May 31 court filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, that Further Point Enterprises has entered into lease agreements for six of Foxtrot’s former stores in Chicago. The six locations that Further Point has leased were part of the group of 15 Foxtrot stores whose assets it acquired in the May 10 online auction, according to the report (citing information from the bankruptcy court filing). Eater Chicago reports that on Wednesday, June 5, LaVitola announced plans to reopen 15 stores in Chicago, Dallas, and Austin this summer, with more than half of these 15 stores located in Chicago, and with the stores in Chicago’s Old Town and Gold Coast neighborhoods slated to reopen in six to eight weeks. The reopened stores will maintain Foxtrot’s layout and merchandising as well as its focus on small, local vendors, according to C-Store Dive (citing a company spokesperson).
A class action complaint filed on April 24, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges in part that Foxtrot Retail, Inc., Outfox Hospitality LLC, and Dom’s Market LLC (collectively, the “Defendants”), were “employers” as defined by the WARN Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2101(a)(1),3 20 C.F.R. § 639(a), and IWARN, 820 ILCS 65/5(c)4; that neither Jamil Moore (the “Named Plaintiff”) nor any members of the putative WARN and/or IWARN classes received at least 60 days’ notice of the Defendants plant closing and/or mass layoff; and that neither the Named Plaintiff nor the members of the putative WARN and/or IWARN classes received compensation for the 60-day notice period that should have been paid under WARN and/or IWARN.
- The auction ended when no offers were accepted for the estimated $200,000 in assets from Dom’s Kitchen & Market, according to Progressive Grocer. ↩︎
- According to a 2018 University of Chicago news release, Michael LaVitola, MBA’14, founded Foxtrot while in his first year at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Foxtrot is the fourth recipient of a venture investment from the UChicago Startup Investment Program, according to the news release, which also reported that the company “has received $450,000 from the university as part of their $6 million Series A round, which is led by Fifth Wall.” ↩︎
- The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, 29 U.S.C. § 2101 et seq. (“WARN”). ↩︎
- The Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, 820 ILCS 65/1 et seq. (“IWARN”). ↩︎
Last Updated on June 6, 2024 by Ramin Seddiq