Foxtrot To Make Hometown Return

The fox moves fast. In less than two months since abruptly shutting down all stores, declaring bankruptcy and auctioning off some assets of the combined parent company, Outfox Hospitality, it appears Foxtrot may soon saunter back into Chicago.

Further Point Enterprises, the New York-based firm that bought the modern c-store chain’s non-real estate assets at auction last month for $2.2 million, is now the official tenant for six of the brand’s former locations in Chicago, which are all owned by different landlords, according to a recent filing in Delaware bankruptcy court.

According to a report in Crain’s Chicago Business Journal this morning, the new locations could begin opening as soon as this summer, specifically the Gold Coast and Old Town stores. Crain’s also confirmed the rumors that Mike LaVitola, Foxtrot’s original co-founder, is back in the driver’s seat. David Magruder, managing partner of Further Point Enterprises, will act as interim chief financial officer and board member of the new entity.

“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… We’re like a new startup again,” LaVitola told the Chicago-based publication.

But Further Point bought the assets for a total of 15 locations during the sale, five of which are in Texas. The fate of the remaining locations and assets remains unclear at this time. As for the rest of Foxtrot’s former footprint, Outfox trustees are currently trying to eliminate any remaining unexpired leases from the bankruptcy process, according to the bankruptcy filing.

And Foxtrot itself went on to confirm our suspicions this morning. The original @Foxtrotmarket Instagram account made its first new post since the shutdown with a picture of a sky at sunset (or sunrise, depending how symbolic you want to get) and just a glimpse of a Foxtrot store sign in the corner. The company added another cryptic layer to the whole thing by captioning the photo “A new Foxtrot with some old friends. Coming soon” and disabling the comments section. All previous posts on the account have also since been deleted.