Bonding on vacation is one of the ways the upbeat brood stays close. “I feel like our lives are so crazy that it takes us getting away to have true family time and make memories,” the children’s mother, Emily Fox, said. The Fox family lives in a picture-perfect house in Arcadia, in a neighborhood surrounded by their father’s restaurants. The Henry is just down the street, as is Doughbird and Flower Child. Blanco isn’t far away and neither is Culinary Dropout. Sam Fox, the thirdgeneration restaurateur, has kept a breakneck schedule opening restaurants for more than two decades.
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rchie, the 7-month-old Cavapoo is romping adorably through the yard, while his family watches and smiles. “He’s everyone’s favorite,” said Noah Fox, a freshman at Brophy, as he watches the fluffy Cavalier King Charles Spaniel/Poodle mix bound about.
It’s a sunny Saturday morning and the family of four is talking genially with a reporter about their life and success. Noah and his younger sister Chloe Fox are incredibly polite, especially considering they have friends upstairs in their house still snoozing after a sleepover the night before. In addition to hanging out with their friends, the kids have typical teenage interests. Noah is an avid sports fan and played freshman football at Brophy this year. Chloe, an eighth-grader, recently took up tennis. As a family, the Foxes enjoy playing games of Sequence and spending summers in their house in Coronado, California. They’re also building a place in Montana, where they hope to spend more time. “Traveling kind of bonds us together,” Noah said.
It’s in his blood. His maternal grandfather was in the restaurant industry, as was Sam’s father. His parents had some restaurants in Chicago and moved the family to Tucson when Sam was 5. So it’s no wonder that the business came naturally to him. “I was working on a real-estate finance degree at the University of Arizona and struggled at school. I just didn’t love it. So it was an easy path for me to get into the business,” Sam said. He used the remainder of his college savings to open his first restaurant in Tucson when he was 21, and then followed it up by opening Wildflower in 1998. Little did he know it would be the start of an improbable culinary ride that has included partnering with Dr. Andrew Weil on the
It’s in his blood. His maternal grandfather was in the restaurant industry, as was Sam’s father. MARCH 2020 | FRONTDOORS MEDIA 23
