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The Fox Pub & Grill closed its doors without warning this weekend, stunning faithful customers.
Executive Chef Suzanne Rockwell says she was shocked to find this note on the door Sunday morning: “Sorry for the inconvenience. Reopening soon with: New chef, new menu, new look.”
The Fox had been up for sale, but employees were not forewarned about the sudden closure of the restaurant. It’s not an uncommon practice when ownership changes hands, said Jerry Roszkowski, the restaurant’s former co-owner.
Roszkowski says he informed Rockwell of the impending sale eight days before it happened and phoned her personally Sunday morning to tell her the restaurant was closed. He was not aware that the new owner had posted a sign on the door indicating Rockwell was out of a job.
While Rockwell will not be there when the doors reopen, some of the former Fox staff may stay. New owner Jim Henderson says he has talked to most of the former staff personally and is hoping to keep many of the familiar faces from The Fox.
“A lot of them have been there a long time and will continue to work there,” Henderson said.
Henderson plans to reopen the restaurant with a new name (to be announced) during the week of Feb. 16. In the meantime, he’s planning a minor interior remodel at the neighborhood restaurant at Fox and Oaklandon roads.
“The restaurant will stay non-smoking, family-friendly and similar in price point,” Henderson said.
A new chef will unveil a menu that Henderson says is “traditional American food with a ‘wow’ factor.” More healthy choices such as salads, wraps and vegetarian dishes also will be added, and the wine and beer lists will be improved.
Rockwell, who assumed the role as Executive Chef two years ago, worries about many of her employees who live paycheck-to-paycheck. The restaurant also employed Lawrence Township special education students as dish washers. Rockwell says her staff was well liked, and she hopes to help them find new jobs quickly. As for herself, Rockwell will likely go back to being a private chef.
“There’s a right way and a wrong way to transition a business from one owner to another,” Rockwell said. “This was just cruel.”
I was literally there Friday night. Great band, good food, this is bizarre behavior from owners of a local staple.
I would venture to say the new ownership has a lot to overcome. Will this be the way they treat their customers as well?
I will miss the convenience in the near term, but look forward to the “new” Fox, and what will hopefully be actually good food!
Wow! I am so surprised!! We were there on Friday night, too…had a great time…never saw THIS coming….
doesn’t seem right!
Agreed, food wasn’t anything to write home about, but did really liked the service. If Mr. Henderson doesn’t keep that consistent, the restaurant will close faster than they can put new chains on the door.
the lack of integrity and disregard for the staff is horrifying! it astounds me that the owners acted without conscience for the impact that this will have on their employees. a perfect example of selfish and bad business practices. i would not have supported this establishment had i known that this was upcoming. my husband and i just had our wedding reception at the fox last month!
Things in this economy are bad enough. Acting like 8 days notice, let alone “no days” notice, prior to terminating employment is insufficient absent an emergency, and I saw no evidence of an emergency in the article. We can do better than displacing a chef, hard working students, parents of kids, or just anyone in this fashion. We got to know a number of these peoople on our frequent stops at The Fox. I hope the “old” and “new” owners of The Fox make every effort to find jobs for those they have displaced in this fashion. In this environment, especially, it is important for us to patronize responsible businesses. It remains to be seen whether our weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) visits to the Fox continue. To the former staff of The Fox — thank you for the great meals, fantastic service, smiles, and general good will. We will miss you.
It was a great place to eat and the service is awesome.! We always asked for the same waitress when we go. I had heard a rumor a few weeks before that someone was trying to buy the Fox. Suppose to be someone who already own’s two restaurants in Indy.
Article sounds fishy to me. I was under the impression Suzanne was a partner under the old ownership. It would be hard for her not to know what was going on. Good luck to the new ownership and maybe they can retain a number of the existing employees.
This will be my only post on this site. I am not nor have I ever been a partner at The Fox. I was the Executive Chef and General Manager. The only part of Mr. Roszkowski’s comments that are correct and true is that he did phone me early Sunday morning. His memory of the conversation and the statements he made are not accurate. That said in an effort to move on, the focus should be the 35+ people that lost their jobs. Let this be a leeson in business ethics 101 entitled “How Not To Close a Business. The partners should have spoken to the the owners of the The Music Mill to learn the fair, honest and decent way to transfer or close a business. The comment regarding that this is common practice in the industry is an excuse for poor behavior and speaks to the heart of what is wrong with business ethics .
The 8 partners of The Fox are certainly entitled to sell their business anytime they choose. In these uncertain times, we are all aware how tough tthe climate is and how we must sacrifice to survive. If Dave and I had been informed of what was really being done we would have handled the sale in a professional manner. Most of our staff lives pay check to and they can they can not afford to miss a single paycheck while ownership transfers. Their biggest decison they make everyday is not what car to drive from their multi -car garage on Geist, but rather how do they eat, keep the lights on and pay their mortgage or rent.
Our staff had worked together for over 2 years. That is very uncommon in the industry and a true reflection of the management in place and the relationship with their staff. I am very proud of my staff and the goals we acheived. We were not perfect but we strived to be everyday. If the new ownership can hire just one person from my old staff they will surely have a shot at being successful. That said thank you to everyone that has called and expressed your kind thoughts. I good chef never worries about getting even we just worry about getting better. I am sure I will see all of you in the future. Chef
I love the atmosphere at The Fox Pub and Grill. I thought the food was good sometimes then other times it was not good. I am excited we are going to have a new restuarant menu and I hope a new chef in the area! We should all be excited about this owner and new feel to the area!!! We are extremely happy the space will not be empty.
The service was always great however the food got to be boring and never changed the menu. I am heartfelt however in regards to how their employees have been treated. This is the worse time of the year to just let everyone go. We have visited the Fox almost weekly. I also had an impression that the Chef was part owner. I just hope the new owner makes amends with it’s past employees, these people are our neighbors and friends. This is our neighborhood establishment and we as customers can choose where we want to spend our money. If this is the way they do business, I guess I’ll take my business somewhere else. I’m sure we will all hear about what takes place.
As a former employee of the The Fox the first thing I want to do is thank Chef Suzanne and Dave for being such wonderful bosses. I truely felt cared about and I was very comfortable in my work enviroment.
To Mr. Henderson: You missed out on inheiriting a wonderful staff. Good luck finding a wait and bar staff that worked as well together as we did to provide excellent service.
To to the former oweners: I to think that you should make a call over to the Music Mill so that you can be properly schooled in how to close a business incase you decide to venture into the business again. Your carelessness and obvious lack of understanding in what is right and wrong has been nothing but blatently apparent.
And to the former patrons of The Fox: It was a pleasure serving you. I know I can speak for other former employees in saying that it was a joy to come to work and wait on such wonderful guests. Please think long and hard about where you patronize and what their business practices are. As a small community we do have the power to show businesses that how they treat their employees is something that we as a community do care about and that we will not tolerate this kind of behavior.
Your magazine may want to focus on posting and reporting accurate facts because your facts or maybe the new owner is not aware that the staff of the Fox (35+ people) were fired for NO reason….shame on the owners for not taking care of their employees who did a great job for them running the restaurant.
At Geist may want to focus on accuracy and not making appearances on the Today show to talk about the STOOPID (yes I said Stupid spelled STOOPID!) Marcus Schrenker story…
Sorry for the job losses but we may actually go back now. The fox SUCKED, food, service, atmosphere. Everything.
There is class then there is classless.
If these new owners have any decency they will at least give all of the employees a severance package to help them re-locate and right this wrong.
I have to say, when I saw a chain/lock on the doors and the note it looked bad. The note seemed to be a slam against the Chef. Not very kind. I enjoyed going to the Fox and will miss the staff. Suzanne Dave Rachel Flash and others keep Rockin! Thanks for the good times!
Chef Suzanne,
Will you let me know where everyone winds up if you stay in touch with them? email me at bew73@yahoo.com or give me a call.
Hope things are working out for everyone.
Blake
Hi Suzanne, Thank you for all of your hard work at the Fox. You were instrumental in making sure they participated year after year at our fundraiser at St. Simon. I wish you well on your future ventures. Geist has lost a great chef with a lot of class! Take care,
I have to say I’m very excited for the change! I visited The Fox every week over the summer because it was close to home. I must say, the food was never great and the service was right there with it. I quit going in the fall due to the lack of consistency in service/food.
I think the change will be positive and hopefully fresh faces will bring better serivce and food. I think a new look and menu is just what The Fox needs. Good luck to the new owners!!!
I loved going to the Fox to see and laugh with all the regulars. The service has always been great. I wonder if this slap in the face to Chef Suzanne and her staff has anything to do with what happened that night of the Eric Clapton concert when 3 of the owner’s wives decided to attack the Chef and some of her staff.
I want to wish Chef and her staff the very best and thank you for all the good times.
Sorry, but the food not only sucked but it was overpriced. As for the service, the people who worked there were pleasant and attentive. I too feel badly for the employees who now find themselves without a job. Is the new management not even going to interview these people or give them consideration?
Sorry Chef. You seem like a nice lady. However that menu was boring and the quality of the food was substandard. Something comparable to the menu at the new Houlihan’s at Castleton would have been great.
In these tough ecomonic times, having worked in the service industry to support myself for nearly a decade, I am now approaching my second full week of completely unexpected and unavoidable unemployment. Having done nothing to warrant losing my job, bills to pay, and no immediately adequate job solution, I assure you, my day-to-day financial reality is now nothing short of terrifying.
I would like to take this opportunity to say to each and every former fox employee: I SO miss seeing your faces and can only hope to find such honest and hard-working people at my next job. Never have I had the pleasure of working with such amazing teamwork anywhere else.
To the Hendersons and every owner I ever had the pleasure/displeasure of coming in contact with: Shame on you. As stated before, there is a right way and a wrong way to transfer a business, and you managed to take the wrong and easy way out. If your conscience lets you sleep at night, knowing the financial hardships you have forced onto 35+ people not even 3 weeks after the holiday season, you may want to check for a pulse and a soul. I do hope your karma teaches you a valuable lesson. Good luck in this economy, I truly hope you know what you’ve gotten yourselves into…
To the patrons: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your generosity, smiles, and good humor made the former fox the most worthwhile and fun job I have had. I hope you are rewarded with a wonderful new hang-out and I hope to see you there, wherever that may be.
And as for the comment above this: you are right on zh! Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
I miss the Fox – a horrible way for them to close and advise their employees what cowardly owners.
Chef Suzanne – I enjoyed so much your staff, your cooking classes – What a riot we had learning from you and sharing a glass of wine with friends after the class –
You made the guests and employees feel more like family – which is why I patronized the restaurant frequently.
Miss you all.