iABOVE THE BOTTOM LINE
IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THE IDEAL BUSINESS MODEL: OPEN A
RESTAURANT IN AN AREA HISTORICALLY PLAGUED WITH
POVERTY AND CRIME, STAFF IT WITH UNEMPLOYABLE YOUNG
PEOPLE, AND SERVE INEXPENSIVE FOOD.
“I say it’s the best worst thing I’ve ever
done,” Rachel Bodkin-Fox says with a
laugh.
Rachel and her husband, Randy, are
co-owners of The Foxes Boxes, founded
in March 2016 and opened that fall.
Rachel and Randy are the Foxes.
Their meals are served in boxes. But
that’s about the only thing that’s logical.
The restaurant is located at 622
N. Fourth Street. The north end of
Wilmington’s downtown is showing
signs of a renaissance, with new busi-nesses
and residential properties. But it’s
also in one of the poorest ZIP codes in
the city.
The food is sourced from local farms
and urban gardens, but the Foxes don’t
charge typical farm-to-table prices. The
menu starts at $6, and stops at $12.
The food and the prices stem from
the time when Randy and Rachel had
three young children. The goal is for a
family of five to all find something they
like, and to get out the door spending
less than $40.
“The menu is inspired by what our
kids ate growing up,” Rachel says.
Many of the employees are low-skilled
workers with no experience, who literally
couldn’t get a job anywhere else. They
are 17- to 24-year-olds who have some
kind of hardship or obstacle — high
school dropouts, criminal background,
low literacy rates.
Randy and Rachel see the establish-ment
as not merely a restaurant, but
a social enterprise providing work-force
development for marginalized
populations.
“We saw a need in downtown
Wilmington,” Rachel says. “There are
tons of job openings in the food service
industry, but people weren’t qualified.
What if we created a space that could be
a job-training program?”
Workers participate in an eight-week,
240-hour program, learning skills and
gaining experience. The Foxes work
with local nonprofits to find their
employee pool. Financial assistance is
provided by the state’s NextGen Youth
Program.
This wasn’t Plan A when the couple
moved to Wilmington. Randy had
more than 25 years in the corporate
restaurant world. Rachel was an RN
back home in Indiana and was pursuing
a master’s degree in public administra-tion
at the University of North Carolina
Wilmington, where she learned about
local nonprofits and needs through her
involvement with the school’s Building a
Better Wilmington campaign.
Their combined talents and passions
evolved into The Foxes Boxes. It’s not a
nonprofit, but a for-profit with a focus
on people, not the bottom line.
The Foxes do have something in com-mon
with owners of traditional start-ups:
It is hard work.
“We’re here 80 hours a week,” Rachel
says.
But when someone graduates from
the program to a permanent job, it’s well
worth it.
Employee Camille Walsh with The Foxes Boxes owners Randy Fox and Rachel Bodkin-Fox,
who founded the restaurant/social enterprise on North Fourth in 2016.
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WBM june 2018