Update:On March 30, Sam Fox was announced as the 2015 Restaurateur of the Year at the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame.
Founder and CEO of Fox Restaurant Concepts, Sam Fox, has been nominated for the 2015 Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame’s Restaurateur of the Year.
He owns various restaurants affiliated with Fox Restaurant Concepts such as the Arrogant Butcher, in CityScape, and Culinary Dropout, near the downtown Phoenix area.
Fox Restaurant Concepts owns and operates more than 30 different restaurants throughout Phoenix, Tucson and several states like California, Texas and Georgia, according to the company’s website.
Fox said he began his career in Tucson, where he grew up, though he was born in Chicago. A third-generation restaurateur, he was raised around a family in the restaurant industry. He opened his first restaurant after he dropped out of the University of Arizona when he was 20.
“I borrowed some money from some family and some friends, and did a lot of the construction work myself,” he said. “And my buddies helped me, and it was one of those deals where we kinda scraped it together and opened up the restaurant, and took a while for it to become successful.”
Fox said the success of all the restaurants provided the foundation for Fox Restaurant Concepts.
“We didn’t open up a restaurant and say we’re Fox Restaurant Concepts,” he said. “We opened up one restaurant and then became successful, and then we opened up two and we had to come up with a company name, and sort of that’s where Fox Restaurant Concepts was seized.”
He said he didn’t expect to be where he is at today with about 60 to 70 restaurants and 4,000 employees. After opening restaurants in about 13 states, he said he learned many lessons.
The first restaurant outside Arizona, which was near Boulder, Colorado, faced financial hardships. Fox and his team had to work to overcome the challenges of the not-so-successful restaurant, he said.
“That was probably one of the strongest life lessons or learning lessons that we’ve had in the organization,” he said.
Fox said he hires and works on the food with all the corporate chefs. He also writes the menus with them and does the food tasting. He said he wouldn’t refer to himself as a chef, but that he’s a good cook with a high knowledge of food.
Executive Chef Eric Ramirez of Little Cleo’s Seafood Legend has been with FRC for more than nine years, and he said Fox is a great person to work for.
“He’s super talented,” Ramirez said. “He’s always ahead of the curve.”
General Manager Chelsea Cassis of The Arrogant Butcher said the restaurant doesn’t deal with him on a daily basis, but his vision is felt throughout every tier of employees; from the vice president to the service staff.
“He’s absolutely an innovator,” she said. “He thinks 100 percent outside the box, and the coolest thing about working for Fox restaurants and Sam is that … you feel his presence throughout the company.”
On his nomination for Restaurateur of the Year, Fox said, “It’s a nice honor … you know it’s a really hard business, so everyone works really hard in their organization. So when you get nominated or you get awards for things like that, it’s always a feel-good moment for the organization.”
He said when he isn’t working, he likes to spend time with his wife and two children, travel with his family, coach his son’s football team and attend his children’s sporting events.
According to the Scottsdale League for the Arts, this isn’t the first time Fox has been nominated for his work, as he was inducted in the 2009 Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame category of Culinary Ambassador.
The 2015 Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame ceremony will be on Monday, March 30, 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Livewire, located at 7320 E. Indian Plaza, in Scottsdale. Admission is $25.
Contact the reporter at chyeacoleton@gmail.com.
