The Gist – What does the Dom's and Foxtrot news mean for CPG?

In a shocking move, Dom's Kitchen & Market and Foxtrot—two Chicago-based retailers comprising two and 33 stores, respectively—announced that doors would be closing at noon on Tuesday, April 23rd at all of the stores' retail locations.  

The two retailers merged five months ago under the parent brand Outfox Hospitality, which is filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Hear from Food and Beverage Insider's Content Director Audarshia Townsend what's happening on the ground in Chicago, plus what this means for other retailers and the emerging CPG brands that were on these stores' shelves. 

Read the full article: Foxtrot, Dom’s Kitchen & Market suddenly close all stores 

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Interested in being a guest on The Natural List? Email us at [email protected]. 

Our guest 

Audarshia Townsend 

Content Director, Food & Beverage Insider, Informa Markets 

A lifelong Chicagoan, Audarshia Townsend is an award-winning, veteran food and beverage journalist who serves as the content director for the Food & Beverage Insider brand. She is Informa Markets' 2024 "Star Storyteller" winner. Her experience as a visionary editor and writer spans 30 years, with an emphasis in print and digital magazines. Audarshia's professional passion is to champion and amplify underserved business communities. Some of her most recent content includes her review of 2023's F&B trends, the future of food science careers, an interview with culinary star Padma Lakshmi, and Pescavore's sustainable ahi tuna jerky strips. She also appears regularly on local and national media outlets to discuss food and beverage trends, most notably FOX-32 Chicago, WGN-TV, WXRT-FM, NPR-Chicago and the Travel Channel. She is often called on to serve as a judge for prestigious food, beverage and restaurant awards, including the James Beard Foundation, NEXTY Awards and Black Women in Food. She continues to write for Chicago magazine, and previously she has written for the likes of the Chicago Tribune, Eater Chicago, Esquire, Essence, Los Angeles Times, Playboy, Time Out Global and World’s Best Bars. With food and beverage being her longtime, chosen beat in media, she has created content for a number of prestigious brands such as AOL, Google, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, Lexus, MasterCard, Markon Cooperative Inc., Miller Brewing Co., Resy and Simplot Foods. 

To date, Audarshia has guest lectured at the following higher-education institutions: Columbia College Chicago and Loyola University Chicago for undergraduate journalism students; Northwestern University for graduate journalism students; and Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) for undergraduate, graduate and PhD food science students. She also mentors aspiring young writers and journalists whenever she can. Email her at [email protected] and also connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Your host

About Adrienne Smith  

Adrienne Smith is the director of content for New Hope Network and the editor-in-chief of Natural Foods Merchandiser magazine, where she helps ideate and produce content in support of natural products retailers, brands and entrepreneurs. As manager of New Hope Network’s NEXTY Awards program, she reviews thousands of new natural products each year, tracking the trends helping to shape the future of the natural products industry.