Highlights

Sam Fox departed Fox Restaurant Concepts at the end of October 2026, closing a chapter that began in Tucson in 1998 when he opened his first restaurant, Wildflower. The exit, described by Fox as bittersweet, ends his operational role at the company he built into one of the country's larger independent restaurant groups before selling it to The Cheesecake Factory in 2019 for $353 million.

Fox Restaurant Concepts today operates 22 brands across 170 restaurants nationwide with more than 9,000 employees. The portfolio includes Scottsdale-area staples Postino, North Italia, Flower Child, The Henry, Blanco Tacos and Tequila, Culinary Dropout, Doughbird, and Olive and Ivy, among others.

Fox's attention now sits with Author and Edit Hospitality, the company he formed around The Global Ambassador, a hotel he opened in Phoenix in December 2023. The property earned a MICHELIN Key in its first year of operation. Author and Edit also operates Twelve Thirty Club in Nashville, a concept developed in partnership with Justin Timberlake.

The departure was reported simultaneously by Phoenix New Times and AZ Central, with Forbes framing the move as a full pivot to the hotel business.

For Scottsdale diners, the operational question is what, if anything, changes at the Fox Restaurant Concepts properties under Cheesecake Factory ownership without Fox in the building. No leadership transition at the concept level has been announced.

Where to find them

Sources

Every factual claim in this article traces to one of the sources below. See how we work for the editorial process.

  1. Phoenix New Times retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21
  2. AZ Central retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21
  3. forbes.com retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21
  4. Sam Fox Exits Fox Restaurant (official site) retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21
  5. Hotel Group (official site) retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21
  6. Fox Restaurant Concepts (official site) retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21
  7. Blanco Tacos (official site) retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21
  8. Twelve Thirty Club (official site) retrieved 06/11/2026 01:21

Authored by The Scottsdale Signal. Drafted by AI from primary-source material under our beat-specific editorial guides; reviewed by humans before publish under our five-gate process. Sources retrieved at 06/11/2026 01:21. Every claim traces to a source.