The venerable Snooty Fox restaurant on Indianapolis’ north side has closed despite efforts by a cable television show
to revitalize the English-style pub.
Owner Tim Queisser shut down the restaurant on Monday after a 29-year run on East 86th Street in Nora.
The restaurant's dwindling business could be the result of a variety of reasons, including a recent menu change, bad
pricing descisions or simply poor management, Queisser speculated.
“I can’t say it’s the economy, because there are too many restaurants doing well,” he said.
Queisser, 57, attempted to reverse a trend of declining sales the past few years by agreeing to a makeover by the Food Network’s
“Restaurant Impossible” show with TV chef Robert Irvine.
The show spent $10,000 in two days in May to improve the restaurant’s decor and menu.
The Snooty Fox couldn’t maintain the short-term boost it received from the show, which aired in early August.
“I went from doing great business until the last four weeks,” Queisser said. “It was like someone turned
a light switch off.”
The restaurant’s traditional menu of soups, salads, steaks, seafood and sandwiches expanded after the show’s
remake to include such appetizers as corned beef egg roll and cod cakes, as well as entrees such as bangers and mash and shepherd’s
pie to better reflect the English atmosphere.
Queisser now is attempting to sell or lease the building that housed the restaurant he and his brother, Quentin, founded
in 1983.
An Indianapolis native and Butler University graduate, Queisser said he and his brother followed their father into the restaurant
business.
He hopes to land a job in the hospitality industry because “it’s what I know.”
Despite the closing, Queisser said he’s proud of the nearly three decades he operated in Indianapolis amid increasing
competition from chain restaurants.
The Snooty Fox had 25 employees.
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To not follow his advice to a T is the height of folly.
The tv show was excellent.... Too bad the restaurant was not also.
Say what you will - it was a nasty place. It's been there most of my life, and I vaguely recall going when I was a child. I convinced my husband to try it last year - and we turned away as soon as we got a whiff of the place. A miasma of stale grease hung over the entire lot and the place just looked nasty. As I told my husband; "If the dining room looks this bad, what do you think the kitchen looks like?" I'm not a prude. I've eaten in 3rd world countries. I just expect more in Nora, Indiana.
You pulled through and gave them everything you could -- and from the look of it, everything they needed. Use it as a stepping stone. Seriously. ENCOURAGE employers to watch the show and show them what you can do on such short notice. Tell them that the problems were there before you started and that you tried to turn it around but were cut off by owners who weren't ready for real change. Regardless, you wish the the owners well (always, always present it in a positive light). Robert Irvine endorsed your cooking and even called it "exciting" or whatever word he used, and you're ready to bring your innovation to their kitchen. Play it up, man. It's soooo all in how you market it!!
As a former Hoosier, I'm sad to see the Snooty Fox go, but don't go don't with it without a fight. Best of luck to the owners, and and best of luck to you!
-J
I notice a "local" posted about how the "stupid" TV should have done more than "48 hours",.....obviously the OWNER should have done more in 29 years, don't you think?
When you have an "English" pub, you expect "English" food,...so what did he expect when he changed the menu back. He ran off ANOTHER Chef, before the episode ever aired.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink,.....unless you dround them in it, obviously his head wasn't held under the water long enough.
This will come to pass. Please don't assume that your career has been killed. Snooty Fox ended because of bad operations, but it may as well have officially closed even before you entered the picture. You not getting a job, as of the date of your response, is more than likely the economy -- and cash-flow concerns with some restaurant operations.
I wish you good things.
Dr. Darrell DeMotte
If you look at the social media reviews, it's very clear that Snooty Fox did NOT want to change and quickly reverted back to their old ways.
You were told the menu, attitudes, commitment to quality were going to be one thing... and found another.
You apparently left because you would not compromise quality. If you present your case in this way (especially with all of the evidence including the restaurant's closing), a good restaurant should be happy to have you as a chef.
I have eaten at the Snooty Fox, but it would have been hard to eat there again.
I was taught to be clean and serve great food, and to this day I still believe in this.
I feel sorry for the owners but they could have made changes at any time........
Thanks for your kindness and generosity throughout the years. A younger 12.
Like you said, the Snooty Fox was more than a restaurant to many of us as well. From a place where groups gathered to conduct business and hold Holiday parties to sports teams that gathered to celebrate their seasons. Many deals brokered, ideas formed, problems solved and many GOOD TIMES had at the Snotty Fox!
And for all of this, I say, THANK YOU and GOOD LUCK to the Queisser Family!
We will miss the steaks, perch, soups, and all the other great stuff. Oh yeah, and I'll miss the smelt (complete with a side of Blue Cheese dressing thanks to that wacky Joe Bacon (RIP)). Honestly, we never had a bad meal there.
The place survived a fire and the widening of 86th Street. It was my grandmother's favorite place and she's been gone since '98, so I guess we thought it was immortal.
Not too worried about Tim -- he's got lots of talent and plenty of contacts. The older servers who had regulars may struggle though.
Best of luck to all -- we'll miss you guys!
Somewhere, soon perhaps, this family deserves a new location and a second chance...we ate at the "renovated"S.Fox recently--basic cooky cutter poorly engineered "re-do" was a sad contrast to the original Fox, and Henry 8th which preceded it. But if someone in this big family has still Aunt Ruth's simple recipes, the Cozy unforgettable food and Mother Durbin of Durbin Hotel down home recipes--they should make a new start on the solid century of gret food.
You have to be able to control the message and letting a comment about a "dirty kitchen" hit the airwaves is NOT good and would be tough to overcome - perception IS reality.