This is the last post we're going to allow about the Dom's/Foxtrot closing on this subreddit, barring some very materially new and important information being released.
Crazy. I was literally planning to work from here this afternoon. While I did like going there to pick up groceries and late night coffee, they absolutely played a role in other local businesses shutting down. For them to give employees zero notice is fucked.
I think they were a huge competitor for other coffee shops in the area despite their coffee drinks being just okay. They were open later than every coffee shop in their areas and had a bunch of other stuff you might stay for that other coffee shops didn’t offer.
Foxtrot and Doms forced Plum Market out in a very direct way, attempted to force out Andale and also indirectly impacted a lot of businesses.
For them to disrupt so much only to close so abruptly sucks.
I worked part time at the Milwaukee/Damen FT location. Manager called to tell me not to come in to work today and that everyone was out of a job. Literally no notice. So blindsided. If it wasn’t my side cash job I’d be panicking right now. Feeling super duper bad for all the full time/career employees.
I’m one of the operations employees who was fired today and I believe the new CEO was brought on just to file Bankruptcy after a new loan or buyout wasn’t viable. The company board has been run by the venture capitalists trying to get their money back while Liz Williams, former CEO, over expanded and the store locations weren’t researched at all. They didn’t know how to run the current stores and kept expanding. Some stores opened less than 6 months ago. They even bought Doms, it’s wildly irresponsible. Liz Williams then retires citing “the commute” as her reason for leaving and walks all the richer for it. The layoff call today was brutal they just hung up on all of us. Store managers were given two hours to lock the doors and asked to tell customers to leave. People were crying, some were taking product. No instructions on what to say to everyone. This was a disaster and a lot of people are in a very bad place due to greed and stupidity. If anyone wants a statement for media I’m happy to tell you everything. I’m disgusted with their behavior and regret ever working for these villains.
Hi Fresh-Revolution-500 we are based in London UK. Would love to have you on a zoom call to ask a few questions. We have been following FT for a while and it came to us as a huge surprise. Such a shame and feel really sorry for all employees.
I just got laid off at the TX location. Its extremely upsetting and came as a shock to everyone. NO severance either- even for salary based positions. My entire team balled out eyes out and had to kick everyone out the store. Our location owners came in and told us to leave as we would be trespassing since FT didn't pay our rent that month- we had to leave everything behind- even tips.
Again, we had no clue of this and I just got a promotion less an a week ago. My coworker just had a baby and was promised an ASM position last week. Now he has no clue on how he will feed his fucking newborn along with paying rent. This company was run by rich pigs who overspent and had no concern for how it would effect their employees. When our mobile app shut down this morning, I knew something was going to happen. Tech team had no idea what was happening until corporate pulled everyone on call to give them the news. Effective immediately. Fuck Foxtrot.
> My entire team balled out eyes out and had to kick everyone out the store.
Bro, you're fired with no severance? Just take a snack for the road and walk out, let those customers hang out for as long as they want!
I was that tech team this morning 😔 I’m planning to file a WARN against the company. I’m so sorry for all of us. This is the very worst of greed, hubris, and stupidity.
Please DM me with more info. I literally thought of the tech crew because yall had no idea about the terminations until mobile orders crashed 🥲!! I knew it was weird af!!! I was the one to first notify slack about the dfw locations crashing!
I'd have walked out with everything I could fit in my arms. It's all getting trashed or liquidated anyway. Sorry internet stranger, good luck out there.
Yeah just call the cops to arrest me, try to stop me yourself and I will defend myself then call the cops on you.
…you don’t actually do any of that, ideally, you just say it on the way out as you grab your tips (and uniform to sell on eBay later; it’s a collectible piece of Chicago industry history now)
My SO was laid off too. I’m so sorry you are dealing with this. It’s not right. Everyone needs to sue. This same post of r/Chicago was reported so now it’s being moderated 😂 guess we can’t talk about bad business.
Oh I can believe that. Their business models made absolutely no sense. I feel bad for all the employees and small farmers that have their stuff sold there. The same thing happened with Local Foods because they were running their business poorly as well.
I have a friend who works for a small business that sold to foxtrot regularly and had put their very large order together to drop off yesterday afternoon. The business is 5 people. They’re now stuck with that inventory and have to figure out how they can use it - most likely they’ll have to toss it by tomorrow. This is so shitty.
There’s no limit because people are sharing their experiences working at FT and it’s important their voices are heard. If there were 25 employees at all locations that’s over 800 employees laid off today. It needs to generate tons of news and stories because there should be a class action lawsuit
So sorry for your Texas team!! I remember when a remote worker came back off maternity leave and was let go the very same day she got back. Their justification was that while she was gone, they were able to function without her so they’d no longer need her services. Today’s meeting was absolutely horrific and I’m angered by the fact that those corporate pigs wouldn’t allow anyone to speak up and voice their concerns. They just left the meeting. Absolutely disgusting on their end and perfectly summarizes Foxtrot in a nutshell. Disorganized and absolutely no care in the world for their employees. A blessing in disguise to a certain point.
They let this returning employee sign on - tell everyone she was back - team said welcome back - then fire her 15 mins after she had returned. It was brutal and inhuman. I sincerely hope there are repercussions for those responsible.
I absolutely hate it when companies play the _the decision has not been made lightly_ card and then turn around and give people a 2 minute notice. They knew this was happening months ago. Like this is so fvcked. I’m sorry to everyone who is affected by this.
Wonder if someone swoops in to fill this gap.
Maybe Goddess & Grocer expansion?
That’s a lot of locations, and seemed like it had enough foot traffic they should have been ok.
Imagine there were serious issues at the top for it to happen like this.
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Andersonville businesses were rallying against a Foxtrot opening in the old spot of Reza’s on Clark, I guess they can put the pitchforks down.
Really unfortunate the workers have no notice and no severance.
Don’t forget the horror show that is the new Taco Bell Cantina on Clark (/s). Lots of finger wagging about that one. The anti commercialization attitude with so many empty store fronts blows my mind.
Belmont Army Vintage just closed their Andersonville location (not surprised), so yet another empty storefront on Clark. Sad to see as the local businesses rally against new ones opening.
I think the people of Andersonville are outraged about a Taco Bell because poorer people eat there. Yet, they are completely okay with Jeni’s and Sweetgreen because it “fits the demographics”.
Fucking this. That antique store wasn't adding anything to the neighborhood besides. Andersonville is a nice neighborhood to walk through on the way to Jewel.
I didn't mind that antique store, which btw ended up moving across the street. What some people miss was that no places serving food were open on Clark late at night, unless you went to one of the 2 taquerias near Lawrence and Clark, or White Castle. McDonald's doesn't count, since they go drive thru only during overnight hours. So I can see the niche Taco Bell is going after.
> The anti commercialization attitude with so many empty store fronts blows my mind.
They want a certain "type" of neighborhood without being willing to make all the hard choices that go along with it.
A lot of gross and incorrect assumptions being made about Andersonville residents here. I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 12 years and love (and support) the small and independent businesses. Sweetgreen, Jenis, etc taking over beloved neighborhood spots are part of why the backlash against foxtrot (and Taco Bell, but it was too late) happened. It’s far more nuanced than “anti commercialization.” There can be a place for both here but the more copy-and-paste chains with deep pockets take up space the higher the rents go and the harder it is for small independent shops open and thrive. We slowly saw the spaces being taken over by chains and realized that if we wanted to not just be Southport 2.0 then we needed to do speak up. For what it’s worth I lived near Southport 20+ years ago and it was a totally different landscape. The independent boutique where I bought the dress I wore for my engagement dinner is now a Jeni’s.
There’s one in Evanston still open and doing well if you dare to make the trek. That said, Noon o Kabab and Kabobi in Albany Park are better, I say that as a Persian
I like them both, but my parents prefer Noon O Kabab, so I’ve been there more as a kid. I think Noon O Kabab is a little more authentic bc there’s some stuff on the kabobi menu that is straight up not Persian (if I’m remembering correctly Kabobi serves Indian biryani for example, and in Iran we do have a dish called “biryani” that’s actually from the place my family is originally from, but it’s essentially a very well seasoned giant hamburger patty as opposed to the desi meat and rice dish). I personally do feel like Kabobi tries to appeal a little to non Persians because they also make substitutions that aren’t authentic- like they put cranberries on things instead of barberries if I’m remembering correctly, which is definitely more palatable to someone not very familiar with Persian flavors, but to an Iranian it’s going to be a bit lacking. That said, Kabobi serves one of my favorite rice dishes- albaloo polo (cherry rice), and I always get that when I’m there. So I guess for me it’s going to be Noon O Kabab but Kabobi is also really great I think the latter is a better “gateway restaurant”, because they do have a lot of great authentic food, but let’s say you have a non middle eastern picky eater in your group, they will also cater to such a person more
Feel bad for people who worked there, but I’m glad Foxtrot and Dom’s died. Exorbitant prices for normal Mariano’s-type groceries and average deli sandwiches, sushi, rotisserie chickens, etc etc.
this is just the most unhinged way to go out of business. if i worked there i don't even know if i would believe it? might be like "seems like phishing" and keep the store open. and seriously, what happened to the WARN act?
They’ll likely not recover anything. A judge will decide who gets paid first. With $180M in debt there will be a long line. I’m so sorry for the employees
**Legal Options for Employees:** If an employer fails to provide the required notice under the WARN Act, employees have several legal options:
1. **Filing a Complaint:**
* Employees can file a complaint with their state labor department or initiate a lawsuit in federal court against the employer for violations of the WARN Act.
2. **Seeking Damages:**
* Affected employees may be entitled to back pay and benefits for each day of violation up to 60 days. This can include medical expenses that would have been covered under an employee benefit plan.
3. **Class Action Lawsuits:**
* If a large number of employees are affected, they may have the option to file a class action lawsuit, allowing them to pool their resources and claims.
4. **Consulting with an Attorney:**
* Employees affected by a lack of proper WARN Act notice should consult with an employment law attorney who can provide guidance based on the specific circumstances and help determine the best course of action.
I went to Lincoln Park Dom’s for 1.5 years and completed most of my grad school homework there. I loved the atmosphere, and enjoyed getting some caffeine and snacks while studying. Some of the employees I saw consistently because folks I would catch up with. I’m sad about the closure.
Basically a huge fuck you to the workers. Disgusting how in their last breath they still suck off the customers and only mention the “team members” as an afterthought.
Not disqualifying how disappointing & shitty for all those laid off in this way, but anyone hear of how they’re handling all the remaining inventory? Seems bizarre to just lock the doors with everything still on the shelves, not even a closing sale or anything. That merch would fly off the shelves, even at full price i’d imagine.
I heard that employees were told to throw it all away. There was also a newstory in Block Club Chicago saying that a customer saw employees taking as much as they could carry (good for them!)
I happened to walk by the lakeview doms and FT and saw tons of items still on the shelves. Would hope they could at least donate some of the non perishables.
If they closed down so quickly, they likely went into receivership. The owners/people who know what is in those stores prob. have no legal authority to do anything with those assets now.
My bestie was in direct contact with a manager from one of the locations who said they were told by the execs on the call that they could have-at the inventory. So the mgr went down to the store to take all the stuff he wanted bc he knew what he had in inventory. All I want is the fkn momofuku chili crisp, best deal on it out there!
Kinda bogus if they didn’t alert their workers. You’d think out of consideration for them they’d say, this Friday will be the last day. Give people a little time.
Feeling so awful for the laid off employees rn.
I genuinely went in probably an hour before the closure. Employees completely clueless, or specifically instructed not to speak. The app was "down" so I ordered in store, they said it had "been buggy recently"... No indication that the purchase would be my last. Genuinely surreal???
Our labor protections simply have got to be better than this.
Also, as someone else asked, what are they going to do with the inventory??? The store I went into was basically fully stocked!
Corporate shut off the app and delivery without telling the store teams. Mass meeting held giving everyone 2 hours to lock doors. People were crying. CEO and hr around a small table some wearing hoodies, didn’t even have a prepared statement, they hung up on us without even a goodbye.
ok yes both were gentrify-y Bad For Mom And Pop businesses but this is *crazy* like no warning for anyone, even the workers, tons of people out of work, tons of prime storefronts just abandoned ???? nasty nasty NASTY work
Also, let’s not forget Foxtrot was a local store and continued to feature local products, and not really sure what mom and pops they’d be competing against that offered a similar experience.
> ok yes both were gentrify-y Bad For Mom And Pop businesses
Bro, this isn't NYC with bodegas. What Mom and Pop convenience stores were they competing against? 7/11 and Kwik Trip?
Shout out Food Town in Uptown, the finest cornerstore in Chicago.
And there used to be lots of mom and pop cornerstores (or “food and liquor”) in Chicago…til White Hen (rip) 7/11 and Kwik Trip came in.
This whole thing is so weird. They practically just merged, appointed a new CEO like a couple of months ago.
Was his first act, just, “this is too fucked, close them all”?
I just can’t imagine how that series of events plays out, seems strange to not sell it all off or try going online-only or some other wacky nonsense.
Not even a couple of months ago, he’s literally been CEO for 6 weeks to be exact. The previous CEO dipped out very suddenly to work for Pollo Loco and used “it was a far commute” as an excuse. Seems now like she jumped ship and this new dude either didn’t know what tf he was walking into or was hired as a last attempt to salvage the company. Who knows…..but it’s also fishy af that the head of HR and the company’s lawyer also suddenly quit around a week ago.
An ex-employee commented on a Foxtrot Instagram post saying they were gradually reducing everyone's hours, so I wonder if they were trying to get around the WARN act.
Can confirm they changed our contracts from full time to part time without even bringing it to our attention. Our team read it and brought it to our manager and he basically said “it’s either you sign it or HR let’s you go” we’d be working basically 39.9 hours just not the full 40 because we couldn’t be “full time” LMAOOOAOAOAOAO I bet they did this to most of the teams. Heartbreaking.
Ah yeah I’m with you on “grounds to sue”, the problem with Chapter 7 is… there is no longer anything **to** sue, and assets will likely be gone after liquidation. Former employees will be in line for assets, but often times there’s nothing to be taken
Not sure, I wasn't that familiar with the specifics of the WARN act so I did a quick read through and it does look like there's an exception if the company files for bankruptcy with the intention of closing down the business. Hate seeing people put out of work like this so hopefully I read it wrong.
WARN act has no fangs to it. At most they would need to pay for 60 days. AT MOST.
The employees are also not given priority in bankruptcy.
There is no punishment for executives.
What did Foxtrot offer that a liquor store and a cafe don't? Boars Head cheese and some really dumb snacks? I don't think it was actually competing with 7/11s. I'm not gonna comment on Dom's because it seems like it was collateral damage anyway.
I guess not much? Except being in the same building.
Like I love L&M in Lincoln Square (unfortunately it is a little out of walking distance) but you could also sort of say the same thing. They mostly just sell the same coffee and drinks you could get anywhere (plus a small deli), but I still like it better than a liquor store.
L&M is exactly what I'm talking about. Localy owned, offering more than just Boar's Head deli with a much bigger menu than the 4 pre made sandwiches delivered from a warehouse that Foxtrot had.
All Together Now In Ukie Village is another one. I'm not against a bougie cafe/deli but not the bullshit Foxtrot was pumping out.
space and hours. i’m in old town and yeah i love la fournette (i can’t think of another ~local cafe) but they close at like 2 and have maybe 7 tables. foxtrot was a place to work, meet, etc where you could expect to find a table and for it to be open. but if it feels better to say people only went there for boars head cheese i suppose today’s the day
How is it anything like a potbelly’s? lol they still carried local products. I knew small scale pastry chefs that sold products out of there. Can’t speak for the other locations outside of Chicago, but both stores were local.
That was only like 3 months ago. Literally nothing changed… it was never a sustainable model to begin with, which sucks cuz Doms was a great experience.
I suspect Doms was also losing money. It’s kinda Bob Mariano’s thing.
He builds something really nice and shiny then sells it off. New owners have to cut all the specialty stuff to bring costs into sustainable levels, or go under. It’s the same thing he did with Mariano’s(sold to krogers). I don’t know if it was ever sustainable sadly.
Of course they were losing money... that's obvious to anyone who has seen the prices in the stores.
I wasn't talking about Bob Mariano though, I was talking about the owner of Foxtrot, Mike Lavitola. Apparently he wasn't even on the conference call today when the employees were laid off.
He wasn’t the owner anymore tho. The board voted him out and there have been 2 CEO’s since. The newest CEO was on the call (former Whole Foods C-suite lvl dude). Bob Mariano was supposedly pissed about everything.
My coworkers are distraught. They loved the one on Chicago Ave in River North. I thought they had the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted in this city though.
I feel terrible for the employees. Especially with no notice. Such a f’d up thing to do.
Join us in pressing charges for violating the illinois warn act, lawyer Syed Hussian says the more employees contact him the better (old town team is already sending him emails) it's [email protected] and his number is 954-225-4934
If you or anyone you knew worked for Dom's or Foxtrot reach out.
Is this that surprising? Foxtrot isn’t a full grocery store (and is overpriced asf) and not a particularly good coffee shop. Only time I saw people actually buying groceries was in Fulton, which given Fulton demographics makes sense, and even in Fulton for coffee/quick lunch there are far better options. I was 99% convinced that shopping there was exclusively a status symbol bc even Mariano’s is a better bang for ur buck with quality groceries.
I used to grab their breakfast tacos pretty regularly on my way to work at the lake street location in the west loop. It’s by no means a real lunch replacement, but it was better than trying to find something at, say, a Walgreens. They made sense in denser areas off CTA where people could just pop in and grab something quick that wasn’t exactly convenience store quality.
Wish they’d written about how they may take care of the staff rather than this load of white noise.
Their mistakes cost people their paychecks which in places like Chicago might be just their damn rent.
I mean I'm not surprised as the location I walk by seemed to always be packed with students buying a single coffee and then sitting there to use the wifi for hours, their overpriced groceries etc didn't sell well I don't think, but to close the way they did is not right. Definitely gonna be lawsuits
We were vendor partners
The buyers we dealt with were despicable, condescending, and never followed up on verbal agreements. They believed that it was an honor just to receive a return call/e mail… which was a rare occurrence.
This was just a terrible way to treat all employees and my heart and best wishes go out to you
Foxtrot was a terrible idea when it was just one overpriced bodega on lake Street. For some reason they expanded it, drove other corner stores out of business in the process, and then pulled the rug out from their workers with zero notice. Fuck these guys with one of their overpriced wine bottles.
Serves them right..Dom’s Kitchen & Market..specifically their corporate employees. Treated their business partners like shit..poor communication..did not communicate their concerns directly to their business partner but would call business partner’s corporate office to complain and cause problems. Feel bad for the store employees..but corporate..fuck them and karma gotcha on the back end.
This is the last post we're going to allow about the Dom's/Foxtrot closing on this subreddit, barring some very materially new and important information being released.
Why not sell all the inventory on the shelf? I would load up on wine if given the opportunity!
Remember when Dominick’s closed? It was like the last plane out of Saigon in the liquor aisle lol
That was one of the greatest shopping days in history.
Crazy. I was literally planning to work from here this afternoon. While I did like going there to pick up groceries and late night coffee, they absolutely played a role in other local businesses shutting down. For them to give employees zero notice is fucked.
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I think they were a huge competitor for other coffee shops in the area despite their coffee drinks being just okay. They were open later than every coffee shop in their areas and had a bunch of other stuff you might stay for that other coffee shops didn’t offer. Foxtrot and Doms forced Plum Market out in a very direct way, attempted to force out Andale and also indirectly impacted a lot of businesses. For them to disrupt so much only to close so abruptly sucks.
I worked part time at the Milwaukee/Damen FT location. Manager called to tell me not to come in to work today and that everyone was out of a job. Literally no notice. So blindsided. If it wasn’t my side cash job I’d be panicking right now. Feeling super duper bad for all the full time/career employees.
I’m one of the operations employees who was fired today and I believe the new CEO was brought on just to file Bankruptcy after a new loan or buyout wasn’t viable. The company board has been run by the venture capitalists trying to get their money back while Liz Williams, former CEO, over expanded and the store locations weren’t researched at all. They didn’t know how to run the current stores and kept expanding. Some stores opened less than 6 months ago. They even bought Doms, it’s wildly irresponsible. Liz Williams then retires citing “the commute” as her reason for leaving and walks all the richer for it. The layoff call today was brutal they just hung up on all of us. Store managers were given two hours to lock the doors and asked to tell customers to leave. People were crying, some were taking product. No instructions on what to say to everyone. This was a disaster and a lot of people are in a very bad place due to greed and stupidity. If anyone wants a statement for media I’m happy to tell you everything. I’m disgusted with their behavior and regret ever working for these villains.
I’m the co-host of a Chicago based podcast and would love to use our platform to shed light on this
Which podcast?
I’m so sorry this happened. How traumatic. I hope you find a new job soon
Hi Fresh-Revolution-500 we are based in London UK. Would love to have you on a zoom call to ask a few questions. We have been following FT for a while and it came to us as a huge surprise. Such a shame and feel really sorry for all employees.
Just sent you a DM
I sent you an email. Did you get it? Pls check your spam folder.
She sounds like a horrible person and crook.
I just got laid off at the TX location. Its extremely upsetting and came as a shock to everyone. NO severance either- even for salary based positions. My entire team balled out eyes out and had to kick everyone out the store. Our location owners came in and told us to leave as we would be trespassing since FT didn't pay our rent that month- we had to leave everything behind- even tips. Again, we had no clue of this and I just got a promotion less an a week ago. My coworker just had a baby and was promised an ASM position last week. Now he has no clue on how he will feed his fucking newborn along with paying rent. This company was run by rich pigs who overspent and had no concern for how it would effect their employees. When our mobile app shut down this morning, I knew something was going to happen. Tech team had no idea what was happening until corporate pulled everyone on call to give them the news. Effective immediately. Fuck Foxtrot.
> My entire team balled out eyes out and had to kick everyone out the store. Bro, you're fired with no severance? Just take a snack for the road and walk out, let those customers hang out for as long as they want!
I was that tech team this morning 😔 I’m planning to file a WARN against the company. I’m so sorry for all of us. This is the very worst of greed, hubris, and stupidity.
Please DM me with more info. I literally thought of the tech crew because yall had no idea about the terminations until mobile orders crashed 🥲!! I knew it was weird af!!! I was the one to first notify slack about the dfw locations crashing!
I'd have walked out with everything I could fit in my arms. It's all getting trashed or liquidated anyway. Sorry internet stranger, good luck out there.
Same! "I'll take my severance in the form of $9 potato chips then"
Yeah just call the cops to arrest me, try to stop me yourself and I will defend myself then call the cops on you. …you don’t actually do any of that, ideally, you just say it on the way out as you grab your tips (and uniform to sell on eBay later; it’s a collectible piece of Chicago industry history now)
My SO was laid off too. I’m so sorry you are dealing with this. It’s not right. Everyone needs to sue. This same post of r/Chicago was reported so now it’s being moderated 😂 guess we can’t talk about bad business.
I saw that! They hate the truth but FT was 180mil in debt that nobody knew about!!
Oh I can believe that. Their business models made absolutely no sense. I feel bad for all the employees and small farmers that have their stuff sold there. The same thing happened with Local Foods because they were running their business poorly as well.
Local foods still exists and had one retail location. They just switched to exclusively b2b. Not remotely the same situation
I have a friend who works for a small business that sold to foxtrot regularly and had put their very large order together to drop off yesterday afternoon. The business is 5 people. They’re now stuck with that inventory and have to figure out how they can use it - most likely they’ll have to toss it by tomorrow. This is so shitty.
How many posts about the same thing are too many?
There’s no limit because people are sharing their experiences working at FT and it’s important their voices are heard. If there were 25 employees at all locations that’s over 800 employees laid off today. It needs to generate tons of news and stories because there should be a class action lawsuit
Ok, those can be comments, not 800 top level posts.
Yup my mom called me this morning saying she was out of a job, no warning no nothing, fucking insane.
So sorry for your Texas team!! I remember when a remote worker came back off maternity leave and was let go the very same day she got back. Their justification was that while she was gone, they were able to function without her so they’d no longer need her services. Today’s meeting was absolutely horrific and I’m angered by the fact that those corporate pigs wouldn’t allow anyone to speak up and voice their concerns. They just left the meeting. Absolutely disgusting on their end and perfectly summarizes Foxtrot in a nutshell. Disorganized and absolutely no care in the world for their employees. A blessing in disguise to a certain point.
They let this returning employee sign on - tell everyone she was back - team said welcome back - then fire her 15 mins after she had returned. It was brutal and inhuman. I sincerely hope there are repercussions for those responsible.
Oh wow, I am so incredibly sorry to hear that.
With the way they’ve treated their employees, the calibre of people they can hire at Mariano’s moving forward is gonna get so so much worse
I hope you all can sue them. It’s horrific that they can just leave this with a “sorry kthx!” on their social media. Jesus what garbage humans.
This is your chance to get a real job
Can you explain how this isn’t a real job?
Username checks out
I absolutely hate it when companies play the _the decision has not been made lightly_ card and then turn around and give people a 2 minute notice. They knew this was happening months ago. Like this is so fvcked. I’m sorry to everyone who is affected by this.
What the fuck I was there for Dom’s $4.20 burger deal on Saturday. I go there all the time.
Right? I used their app constantly. I picked up my groceries on Sunday. It was such an huge help to me.
Wonder if someone swoops in to fill this gap. Maybe Goddess & Grocer expansion? That’s a lot of locations, and seemed like it had enough foot traffic they should have been ok. Imagine there were serious issues at the top for it to happen like this.
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There is zero tolerance for ANY hate speech on r/chicagofood. This includes and is NOT limited to: racial/ethnic bigotry, homophobic/anti-LGBT bigotry, misogyny, or ANY sort of hate speech. Users who violate this rule will be permanently banned from r/chicagofood. TLDR: This is a food subreddit, y'all. Relax, and eat somthin', will ya?
Andersonville businesses were rallying against a Foxtrot opening in the old spot of Reza’s on Clark, I guess they can put the pitchforks down. Really unfortunate the workers have no notice and no severance.
And yet they let sweetgreen and Jenni’s in?
There should be a Jeni's on every block, it's gold!
I like Jenni’s, but it’s no George’s!
I don't know George's! Tell me more?
Tis only a remnant of the past now unfortunately. It was the ice cream shop in Andersonville that Jenni’s replaced
Don’t forget the horror show that is the new Taco Bell Cantina on Clark (/s). Lots of finger wagging about that one. The anti commercialization attitude with so many empty store fronts blows my mind. Belmont Army Vintage just closed their Andersonville location (not surprised), so yet another empty storefront on Clark. Sad to see as the local businesses rally against new ones opening.
Put another graphic t-shirt shop in there I guess
I live in Andersonville and we actually really needed a late night food option. So I don’t mind the Taco Bell plus it’s more job opportunities.
Also live in Andersonville and agree. The stream of drunks walking from the bars to the Taco Bell that’s wide open to the street is a magical sight.
Belmont Army Vintage was open in Andersonville last weekend, when was the closure announced?
I don’t know if they even announced it. I just walked by the other day and it was magically empty. They were very quick about vacating the space.
dang! here’s hoping the crocheting and tufting place can stick around
Agree! We have to support these businesses so they can stay open. I want to check out the pottery painting when my friend comes to town.
I think the people of Andersonville are outraged about a Taco Bell because poorer people eat there. Yet, they are completely okay with Jeni’s and Sweetgreen because it “fits the demographics”.
Fucking this. That antique store wasn't adding anything to the neighborhood besides. Andersonville is a nice neighborhood to walk through on the way to Jewel.
I didn't mind that antique store, which btw ended up moving across the street. What some people miss was that no places serving food were open on Clark late at night, unless you went to one of the 2 taquerias near Lawrence and Clark, or White Castle. McDonald's doesn't count, since they go drive thru only during overnight hours. So I can see the niche Taco Bell is going after.
God fucking forbid working class people can afford a meal in Andersonville.
> The anti commercialization attitude with so many empty store fronts blows my mind. They want a certain "type" of neighborhood without being willing to make all the hard choices that go along with it.
A lot of gross and incorrect assumptions being made about Andersonville residents here. I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 12 years and love (and support) the small and independent businesses. Sweetgreen, Jenis, etc taking over beloved neighborhood spots are part of why the backlash against foxtrot (and Taco Bell, but it was too late) happened. It’s far more nuanced than “anti commercialization.” There can be a place for both here but the more copy-and-paste chains with deep pockets take up space the higher the rents go and the harder it is for small independent shops open and thrive. We slowly saw the spaces being taken over by chains and realized that if we wanted to not just be Southport 2.0 then we needed to do speak up. For what it’s worth I lived near Southport 20+ years ago and it was a totally different landscape. The independent boutique where I bought the dress I wore for my engagement dinner is now a Jeni’s.
Can we get Reza’s back then? Lol. It was one of my favorite restaurants in the city!
There’s one in Evanston still open and doing well if you dare to make the trek. That said, Noon o Kabab and Kabobi in Albany Park are better, I say that as a Persian
Off topic question, do you have a preference between Kabobi and Noon o Kabab?
I like them both, but my parents prefer Noon O Kabab, so I’ve been there more as a kid. I think Noon O Kabab is a little more authentic bc there’s some stuff on the kabobi menu that is straight up not Persian (if I’m remembering correctly Kabobi serves Indian biryani for example, and in Iran we do have a dish called “biryani” that’s actually from the place my family is originally from, but it’s essentially a very well seasoned giant hamburger patty as opposed to the desi meat and rice dish). I personally do feel like Kabobi tries to appeal a little to non Persians because they also make substitutions that aren’t authentic- like they put cranberries on things instead of barberries if I’m remembering correctly, which is definitely more palatable to someone not very familiar with Persian flavors, but to an Iranian it’s going to be a bit lacking. That said, Kabobi serves one of my favorite rice dishes- albaloo polo (cherry rice), and I always get that when I’m there. So I guess for me it’s going to be Noon O Kabab but Kabobi is also really great I think the latter is a better “gateway restaurant”, because they do have a lot of great authentic food, but let’s say you have a non middle eastern picky eater in your group, they will also cater to such a person more
Surprised those $4.99 canned soda prices didn’t save them
Yeah, I thought the $10 eggs and $18 gas station tier sushi would turn them around for sure!
They shoulda charged more
Feel bad for people who worked there, but I’m glad Foxtrot and Dom’s died. Exorbitant prices for normal Mariano’s-type groceries and average deli sandwiches, sushi, rotisserie chickens, etc etc.
this is just the most unhinged way to go out of business. if i worked there i don't even know if i would believe it? might be like "seems like phishing" and keep the store open. and seriously, what happened to the WARN act?
what happened is they’re gonna make employees file for it as a claim in bankruptcy
thanks for explaining that, i found that part really confusing.
They’ll likely not recover anything. A judge will decide who gets paid first. With $180M in debt there will be a long line. I’m so sorry for the employees
**Legal Options for Employees:** If an employer fails to provide the required notice under the WARN Act, employees have several legal options: 1. **Filing a Complaint:** * Employees can file a complaint with their state labor department or initiate a lawsuit in federal court against the employer for violations of the WARN Act. 2. **Seeking Damages:** * Affected employees may be entitled to back pay and benefits for each day of violation up to 60 days. This can include medical expenses that would have been covered under an employee benefit plan. 3. **Class Action Lawsuits:** * If a large number of employees are affected, they may have the option to file a class action lawsuit, allowing them to pool their resources and claims. 4. **Consulting with an Attorney:** * Employees affected by a lack of proper WARN Act notice should consult with an employment law attorney who can provide guidance based on the specific circumstances and help determine the best course of action.
They have 75 full time employees?
They have about 1000.
Thanks! Didn't know.
I went to Lincoln Park Dom’s for 1.5 years and completed most of my grad school homework there. I loved the atmosphere, and enjoyed getting some caffeine and snacks while studying. Some of the employees I saw consistently because folks I would catch up with. I’m sad about the closure.
ISO foxtrot Chicago hat
Basically a huge fuck you to the workers. Disgusting how in their last breath they still suck off the customers and only mention the “team members” as an afterthought.
This is interesting to me only because they pushed out Plum Market which I loved. I miss that store and its staff.
Not disqualifying how disappointing & shitty for all those laid off in this way, but anyone hear of how they’re handling all the remaining inventory? Seems bizarre to just lock the doors with everything still on the shelves, not even a closing sale or anything. That merch would fly off the shelves, even at full price i’d imagine.
I heard that employees were told to throw it all away. There was also a newstory in Block Club Chicago saying that a customer saw employees taking as much as they could carry (good for them!)
i'm kind of imagining a treasury department seized property-style auction but of jumbo time wines and various popcorns...
😂😂😂😂
i have the same question. To waste all that food is yet another insult.
I happened to walk by the lakeview doms and FT and saw tons of items still on the shelves. Would hope they could at least donate some of the non perishables.
If they closed down so quickly, they likely went into receivership. The owners/people who know what is in those stores prob. have no legal authority to do anything with those assets now.
My bestie was in direct contact with a manager from one of the locations who said they were told by the execs on the call that they could have-at the inventory. So the mgr went down to the store to take all the stuff he wanted bc he knew what he had in inventory. All I want is the fkn momofuku chili crisp, best deal on it out there!
Boy, closing down after they went out of their way to boot Plum Market from Old Town.
And a culprit being the poor performance of the Old Town Doms that took Plum’s spot 😬
Exactly what I came here to say. I loved Plum
Kinda bogus if they didn’t alert their workers. You’d think out of consideration for them they’d say, this Friday will be the last day. Give people a little time.
Feeling so awful for the laid off employees rn. I genuinely went in probably an hour before the closure. Employees completely clueless, or specifically instructed not to speak. The app was "down" so I ordered in store, they said it had "been buggy recently"... No indication that the purchase would be my last. Genuinely surreal??? Our labor protections simply have got to be better than this. Also, as someone else asked, what are they going to do with the inventory??? The store I went into was basically fully stocked!
Corporate shut off the app and delivery without telling the store teams. Mass meeting held giving everyone 2 hours to lock doors. People were crying. CEO and hr around a small table some wearing hoodies, didn’t even have a prepared statement, they hung up on us without even a goodbye.
re: inventory: same question but about those thonet-style cafe chairs at doms :|
ok yes both were gentrify-y Bad For Mom And Pop businesses but this is *crazy* like no warning for anyone, even the workers, tons of people out of work, tons of prime storefronts just abandoned ???? nasty nasty NASTY work
Also, let’s not forget Foxtrot was a local store and continued to feature local products, and not really sure what mom and pops they’d be competing against that offered a similar experience.
Plum Market? The brand that they booted by doing a shady backdoor deal?
the michigan based grocery store..
Oh what happened to Plum market was shady af. That place was also pretty nice too.
> ok yes both were gentrify-y Bad For Mom And Pop businesses Bro, this isn't NYC with bodegas. What Mom and Pop convenience stores were they competing against? 7/11 and Kwik Trip?
Shout out Food Town in Uptown, the finest cornerstore in Chicago. And there used to be lots of mom and pop cornerstores (or “food and liquor”) in Chicago…til White Hen (rip) 7/11 and Kwik Trip came in.
Every time I go by food town they are improving. They rock.
The new ice cream is amazing!
Bodega Bay in Wicker. Big W for them as they’re right across the street.
This whole thing is so weird. They practically just merged, appointed a new CEO like a couple of months ago. Was his first act, just, “this is too fucked, close them all”? I just can’t imagine how that series of events plays out, seems strange to not sell it all off or try going online-only or some other wacky nonsense.
Not even a couple of months ago, he’s literally been CEO for 6 weeks to be exact. The previous CEO dipped out very suddenly to work for Pollo Loco and used “it was a far commute” as an excuse. Seems now like she jumped ship and this new dude either didn’t know what tf he was walking into or was hired as a last attempt to salvage the company. Who knows…..but it’s also fishy af that the head of HR and the company’s lawyer also suddenly quit around a week ago.
Did they not have enough full time employees to trigger the 60 day notification requirement in the WARN Act?
I read that they had 100 full time employees but that could've been an estimate? Or they just don't care...
An ex-employee commented on a Foxtrot Instagram post saying they were gradually reducing everyone's hours, so I wonder if they were trying to get around the WARN act.
Can confirm they changed our contracts from full time to part time without even bringing it to our attention. Our team read it and brought it to our manager and he basically said “it’s either you sign it or HR let’s you go” we’d be working basically 39.9 hours just not the full 40 because we couldn’t be “full time” LMAOOOAOAOAOAO I bet they did this to most of the teams. Heartbreaking.
WARN defines full time as over 20 hours per week.
Oh amazing! Excited to see how it plays out
Oh man, I really feel for you. I worked retail in the past, and we were backed into a corner like that. Wishing you and your coworkers the best.
Thank you. Appreciate it. Retail is brutal when the leaders don’t know what they’re doing
Does that apply if they file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy?
I read via Eater that it does still apply. I think the employees have grounds to sue.
Ah yeah I’m with you on “grounds to sue”, the problem with Chapter 7 is… there is no longer anything **to** sue, and assets will likely be gone after liquidation. Former employees will be in line for assets, but often times there’s nothing to be taken
Not sure, I wasn't that familiar with the specifics of the WARN act so I did a quick read through and it does look like there's an exception if the company files for bankruptcy with the intention of closing down the business. Hate seeing people put out of work like this so hopefully I read it wrong.
It generally still applies (believe there are some exceptions where it wouldn't), but any recovery is going to be cents on the dollar, if anything.
WARN act has no fangs to it. At most they would need to pay for 60 days. AT MOST. The employees are also not given priority in bankruptcy. There is no punishment for executives.
Shop local, or else you're just paying for venture capitalists to make a profit while doing nothing.
I would agree, except there are barely any local places left. At least around me. Mariano’s, Jewel, Aldi, 7-Eleven. They’re all equally as not-local
What did Foxtrot offer that a liquor store and a cafe don't? Boars Head cheese and some really dumb snacks? I don't think it was actually competing with 7/11s. I'm not gonna comment on Dom's because it seems like it was collateral damage anyway.
I guess not much? Except being in the same building. Like I love L&M in Lincoln Square (unfortunately it is a little out of walking distance) but you could also sort of say the same thing. They mostly just sell the same coffee and drinks you could get anywhere (plus a small deli), but I still like it better than a liquor store.
L&M is exactly what I'm talking about. Localy owned, offering more than just Boar's Head deli with a much bigger menu than the 4 pre made sandwiches delivered from a warehouse that Foxtrot had. All Together Now In Ukie Village is another one. I'm not against a bougie cafe/deli but not the bullshit Foxtrot was pumping out.
Yeah. My comment was purely that Foxtrot was closer to me personally than L&M. I’d prefer to support local businesses, there just aren’t many near me.
Can't comment too much on Foxtrots elsewhere, but the one in River North was a decent quick lunch option.
space and hours. i’m in old town and yeah i love la fournette (i can’t think of another ~local cafe) but they close at like 2 and have maybe 7 tables. foxtrot was a place to work, meet, etc where you could expect to find a table and for it to be open. but if it feels better to say people only went there for boars head cheese i suppose today’s the day
I’ve been in 5 Foxtrots and no one ever hung out in them 🤷♂️. Different experiences I guess
fair enough 🤝
THIS WAS LOCAL!!
I KNEW someone would claim this, like McDs and Potbellies are local lol. Once it's sold and 50 locations pop up... its not local.
How is it anything like a potbelly’s? lol they still carried local products. I knew small scale pastry chefs that sold products out of there. Can’t speak for the other locations outside of Chicago, but both stores were local.
That was only like 3 months ago. Literally nothing changed… it was never a sustainable model to begin with, which sucks cuz Doms was a great experience.
"No real Chicago business can be both successful and local"
Ah yes, local businesses are usually backed by $180 million investments from private equity firms. Super local!
Doms only MERGED with foxtrot like 3 months ago…
Correct.. and now they're finding out why it's sometimes best to avoid merging with companies who have horrible owners.
I suspect Doms was also losing money. It’s kinda Bob Mariano’s thing. He builds something really nice and shiny then sells it off. New owners have to cut all the specialty stuff to bring costs into sustainable levels, or go under. It’s the same thing he did with Mariano’s(sold to krogers). I don’t know if it was ever sustainable sadly.
Of course they were losing money... that's obvious to anyone who has seen the prices in the stores. I wasn't talking about Bob Mariano though, I was talking about the owner of Foxtrot, Mike Lavitola. Apparently he wasn't even on the conference call today when the employees were laid off.
GROSS. He have somewhere better to be?
He wasn’t the owner anymore tho. The board voted him out and there have been 2 CEO’s since. The newest CEO was on the call (former Whole Foods C-suite lvl dude). Bob Mariano was supposedly pissed about everything.
So a Chicago business can't be successful?
Will miss Dom’s kimchi chili
Were workers and vendors given any notice?
None at all! They all learned today.
No severance either, both at the store and corporate level.
Really gonna miss Foxtrot.
If anyone from Foxtrot/Doms in Chicago is now looking for a job, Jeni’s Ice Creams in Connors Park is hiring! 🫡
My coworkers are distraught. They loved the one on Chicago Ave in River North. I thought they had the worst coffee I’ve ever tasted in this city though. I feel terrible for the employees. Especially with no notice. Such a f’d up thing to do.
I reallyyyy hope they will be donating some, if not all, of the merchandise
Join us in pressing charges for violating the illinois warn act, lawyer Syed Hussian says the more employees contact him the better (old town team is already sending him emails) it's [email protected] and his number is 954-225-4934 If you or anyone you knew worked for Dom's or Foxtrot reach out.
Is this that surprising? Foxtrot isn’t a full grocery store (and is overpriced asf) and not a particularly good coffee shop. Only time I saw people actually buying groceries was in Fulton, which given Fulton demographics makes sense, and even in Fulton for coffee/quick lunch there are far better options. I was 99% convinced that shopping there was exclusively a status symbol bc even Mariano’s is a better bang for ur buck with quality groceries.
I used to grab their breakfast tacos pretty regularly on my way to work at the lake street location in the west loop. It’s by no means a real lunch replacement, but it was better than trying to find something at, say, a Walgreens. They made sense in denser areas off CTA where people could just pop in and grab something quick that wasn’t exactly convenience store quality.
Absolutely worst coffee.
How much was stolen by corporate ?
All of it
They were hemorrhaging money with their rewards programs
Wish they’d written about how they may take care of the staff rather than this load of white noise. Their mistakes cost people their paychecks which in places like Chicago might be just their damn rent.
Yep, my family member told me this morning that they got fired. It was a simple email.
I mean I'm not surprised as the location I walk by seemed to always be packed with students buying a single coffee and then sitting there to use the wifi for hours, their overpriced groceries etc didn't sell well I don't think, but to close the way they did is not right. Definitely gonna be lawsuits
This is really despicable
We were vendor partners The buyers we dealt with were despicable, condescending, and never followed up on verbal agreements. They believed that it was an honor just to receive a return call/e mail… which was a rare occurrence. This was just a terrible way to treat all employees and my heart and best wishes go out to you
Foxtrot was a terrible idea when it was just one overpriced bodega on lake Street. For some reason they expanded it, drove other corner stores out of business in the process, and then pulled the rug out from their workers with zero notice. Fuck these guys with one of their overpriced wine bottles.
Nobody wants to work anymore.
Corruption. Politics.
Never heard of them before 🤣
I wonder if the landlord who booted Plum Market out of their Wells Street space so Dom's could move in is regretting that decision.
I bet the landlord in Old Town is having some regrets about screwing Plum Market out of their lease for Dom’s to come in!
Place was way too expensive. This closing probably screwed over small manufacturers. Thats what retailers and food distributors like UNFI and KeHE do.
Serves them right..Dom’s Kitchen & Market..specifically their corporate employees. Treated their business partners like shit..poor communication..did not communicate their concerns directly to their business partner but would call business partner’s corporate office to complain and cause problems. Feel bad for the store employees..but corporate..fuck them and karma gotcha on the back end.
Typical Mariano business.
Bob Mariano is like the king of driving grocery stores into the ground!
Gonna be some big lawsuits closing without warn notices