Foxtrot CMO Carla Dunham on the convenience store startup’s ambitious expansion

Convenience store startup Foxtrot is trying to become a national name. Over the last few weeks, the company announced a series of expansion plans. For one, it plans to open 50 new locations over the next two years. Foxtrot is also launching a national delivery program called Foxtrot Anywhere. The retailer’s CMO Carla Dunham joined the Modern Retail podcast and spoke about the company’s big ambitions. While Foxtrot is positioned as a quasi-convenience store, it tries to highlight the quality of its products and fast delivery. Each store features an assortment of local products and Dunham said curation and selection is about “an obsession with whatever is delicious and worth enjoying.” Right now, the focus is on growing Foxtrot’s presence and getting more people aware of the stores. Currently, there are 13 stores in Chicago, Dallas and Washington, DC, and Foxtrot plans to have 18 in total open by the end of this year. As part of this expansion, the retailer is focusing less on convenience items and becoming more of a food service destination. “We’ve really been leaning into our cafe food program much more aggressively, and you’ll see that in our new store format,” Dunham said. What’s more, Foxtrot has been actively building out its own private label -- which includes gummy snacks and ice cream. These products are less economy-priced unbranded items and more Foxtrot-specific delicacies. “The products that we’ve created can stand alone comfortably outside of our stores,” she said. All that put together equals Dunham’s national expansion playbook. Now, the challenge is to get more people to notice.