Dive Brief:

• Foxtrot Market announced on Wednesday two senior-level hires: Mitch Madoff as senior vice president of private label and supply chain, and Tae Strain as corporate executive chef. 
• Madoff joins Foxtrot after 20 years at Whole Foods Market, where he most recently worked as a top executive in the retailer's "exclusive brands" division. Strain has more than 15 years of cooking experience as a chef at restaurants in major metropolitan areas around the country.
• Madoff and Strain will help expand Foxtrot's private label meals and grocery products at a time when the retailer is growing its store count.

Dive Insight:

Foxtrot’s focus on private label, its "fastest-scaling category," according to the company, promises to deepen shopper engagement as the boutique corner-store chain ramps up its presence in new and existing markets.

Madoff, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and most recently served as Whole Foods’ vice president of exclusive brands, will take the reins of a private label division focused on inventive items like gummy snacks and bourbon-laced oatmeal cream pies. This summer, Foxtrot will launch its own line of ice creams under Madoff's supervision.

Meanwhile, Strain adds years of experience working as a chef at award-winning restaurants in New York City; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; and Baltimore. He will be responsible for developing recipes for private label items and for the "Meals by Foxtrot" menu, which has grab-and-go breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack items.

Madoff and Strain join Foxtrot’s roster of new hires, which include Chief Operating Officer Sumi Ghosh; Scott Holloway, who was named senior vice president of delivery; and Caroline Barry, who was brought on as vice president of strategy. 

Foxtrot, which announced $42 million of new funding in February, has 12 stores across Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C., and expects to have 21 stores running by the end of the year. Foxtrot opened two stores in Washington, D.C., in March and has plans to debut two more in the area, along with four additional stores in Chicago and another in Dallas. 

Started in 2014 as a delivery-only convenience store in Chicago, Foxtrot has kept its focus on e-commerce as it transformed into a small-format, upscale grocery and convenience store chain with cafes and 1-hour delivery service. In the announcement, Foxtrot said that its private label offerings will extend across its business, from cafe offerings to prepared foods, shelf-stable items to gift options.