What Brand Founders Can Learn From The Foxtrot Fiasco

Foxtrot was one of the more compelling retail formats of the post-pandemic era. Founded with a focus on selling upscale local and innovative brands, the fast growing chain had opened over 30 locations across the country since 2014. Not long after securing $100 million in Series C funding in 2022, the chain took on another $18 million in debt, bringing the total raised to over $193 million. In November 2023, Foxtrot surprisingly merged with Dom’s Kitchen and Market to form Outfox Hospitality, a hint that the company was having trouble. Less than 6 months later, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, without any warning to customers, store employees or vendors, the chain abruptly shut down all of its stores and facilities, stunning the industry.

Adela Maravilla was a long-time Foxtrot employee who was laid off without notice. A former commissary worker, Maravilla has joined co-workers to demand severance pay in a class action lawsuit. We spoke about her experience at Foxtrot and what both brand founders and food workers can learn from it. This interview was conducted in Spanish and translated with support from Jose Uribe of Arise Chicago.

Errol Schweizer: Tell us a bit about the job you had at Foxtrot.

Adela Maravilla: I worked in food prep in the area where tacos were made. We made four different types of tacos. There was a bacon and egg taco, a chop steak, a carnitas taco the bean and cheese taco. We would make these tacos, wrap them up ready for individual retail sale at Foxtrot locations. My department is pretty small, just two of us, but we would make about 4000 tacos a day.

ES: What was it like working for Foxtrot?

AM: It was a good environment, you know, beyond making a whole bunch of tacos. I liked the group I worked with. We had good camaraderie between us. I'd say we were a united group that worked well together, so I enjoyed it.

ES: There was obviously a very big surprise a few weeks ago when Foxtrot decided to shut down and close all their locations immediately. What was it like that day?

AM: So there was no indication that anything was amiss on Monday. You know, I showed up, I worked my regular hours. We made our regular quota for tacos. Everything was fine. It seemed like it was business as usual, but, obviously, everything was not okay. And things took on a very different tone on Tuesday.

Tuesday is actually a regular day off for me. I didn't come in that day, but my manager gave me a call and said, hey, Adela, you don't need to come in tomorrow. And at that point I got a sense that something was wrong. My initial reaction was, oh, what did I do? What did I do wrong? Did I mess something up? Is this some kind of discipline? And he responds, no, they've asked me to reach out to everyone.

And so we get through this conversation. I'm appalled. I'm in shock. I just feel beyond surprised. And after I've had this conversation with my supervisor, my friend from work calls me and says, hey, you know, Adela, have you heard about what's going on? We need you to come in and get anything you might have left behind. If you have any personal belongings, you want to grab them before they lock up the building. And at noon, it'll be your last chance to get them. And I just couldn't. I just couldn't get out the door. I immediately just felt very distressed, depressed. I decided, even though I did have a few things left in my locker at work, that I was just going to let it go. I couldn't set foot in there again. I left it as it was.

So after I'm done with both of these phone calls, I turn to my son and I say, hey, you know, I'm out of a job. That's it. There's no more work for me at the company. And I let him know that the company was closing nationwide. And, he said, well, that's just wrong. They didn't give you any kind of notice to look for a new job. It came out of nowhere. They should have given you at least a couple months, you know, 60 days to look for employment. And while I agreed with him, it didn't change the situation. The company had closed and they and they had not told us anything.

So after everything wrapped up on Tuesday, a group of us came to Arise Chicago. We understood them to be a workers rights organization, and we wanted to know what they could do to help us, if there was anything to be done in our situation. So we came here and we spoke with them to try to get a sense as to what could be done.

I have to say as a side bar it is beyond challenging to find work right now. I've walked into many places. I've filled out a bunch of applications and I'm hopeful I'll hear something. But as of yet, I'm still without work.

ES: What's the plan now with Arise Chicago?

AM: Right now we're trying to see what can be done along the lines of some kind of financial restitution. We know that the law says as much as 60 days, but anything that puts some money in our pockets and helps us through this time. There were other workers there who were helping out with sushi prep. And as I understand it, they were there through another contractor, but they actually received a month’s pay. They got the same notice, but they received some money. And I think it's only right that we get something considering we were abruptly left without work.

We're going to keep up the fight. we're going to see any and all avenues that are available to us. For me personally, I've already put in an application and I'll be getting something through unemployment. That's not the case for everybody. Not everybody has been able to apply for unemployment. Some people are worse off than me, and I feel terrible about that. But we're going to keep fighting. And we're hopeful that by continuing to stay united and keeping the pressure on the company, we can get something.

ES: What would you like to say to other entrepreneurs who are trying to build trendy startup businesses?

AM: First and foremost you need to be looking at your employees as an asset and as an investment, and you need to be conscious of the impact that your business decisions can make on everyday working people. And we understand that businesses, just like individuals, can come upon hard times. Maybe you get in over your head and you don't have the money or the resources to offer everything you could. But in this example, there was a very different way this could have been handled, something tremendously valuable that could have been extended to us. And that thing is time. If there had been transparency and we had known as the company knew that there were concerns about operations and that there was a looming closure, we could have made some plans. We could have looked for other work. It could have minimized the impact of the company wide shut down for us. And when you conduct yourself in a moral and ethical way and you see the dignity and value of your workforce and you extend them that respect, that helps to breed a lot of goodwill. And that's beyond what you would do if you were a good person. That's also good business. And that wasn't the case here.

But that would be my message for anybody running a business. Understand that businesses are successful because of the effort and the work of people who show up every day to make that business successful, but also handle that as a two way street. So if we show up and we help you move forward, then the company should be doing what they can to enable us to be okay as well.

And this one goes out to workers. I just want to tell working people everywhere that if this happens to you, this is not something that you have to take lying down or that you have to be resigned that it is concluded and resolved. So seek the help. There are organizations out there that support workers. There are things that can be done. Don't just stand by and let things happen to you. The only way you lose this kind of fight is if you don't show up for it. So that's my big takeaway here. If you do have this happen to you, learn about your rights and figure out what you can do to push back.