Now You Can Have Great Coffee on the South Side of Fort Wayne!

Fort Wayne, Indiana has their share of local coffee houses. However, most of them are located on the north side of town. Starbucks are located throughout the city, but none on the south side.
That is why the Friendly Fox, located at 4001 South Wayne Street in Fort Wayne, is such a stroke of luck for the south side residents of the city.
As the creator of the Green ABC's I often have used the Friendly Fox as an office away from home. I have had reporters, illustrators, and business partners meet me there to discuss the Green ABC's.
Today, many road warriors are employing this type of neighborhood coffee house/ restaurant for business purposes. We are becoming a mobile business society on wheels and need the respite of the coffee house atmosphere to meet-up, reflect, and sometimes to create our business concepts.
The Friendly Fox just underwent a change of ownership and as a regular customer; I wanted to find out what these new owners had in mind for this respected local business.
Here are their ideas for a new Friendly Fox in Fort Wayne, Indiana

ABS) Tell me when The Friendly Fox got new management, who you are and what changes have been made?
FF) The Friendly Fox has been open since late 2007. New ownership took over on Oct. 15th, 2010. There are four new owners. Kendra Saurer and her husband Dan Saurer. Becky Fox, and Matthew Capps.
Kendra has been in the restaurant business for 15 years, as a waitress, bartender, and catering coordinator. Her husband Dan worked at Catablu for 9 years, 5 of those years being the sous chef. He also worked as the executive chef at the Dash In. Becky Fox has been in the restaurant business for 8 years working as a waitress and bartender. Matthew Capps has been a chef in the restaurant business for 7 years. He has worked at Chappells' Fish house, Casa Ristorante, and Anthony's Kicked Up Catering as well as the Dash In.
The Friendly Fox has a new menu, full of sandwiches, salads, and appetizers. The coffee has stayed the same. The décor of the Friendly Fox has changed as well. We took out the couch and replaced it with more comfortable seating. The back room is filled with local art and more seating as well. We have recently acquired a new beer list, as well as added some different wines. Our catering menu is also different. We can accommodate any special requests as well.
ABS) Do you intend to become involved in the local community, as far as book clubs, association meetings, and business events?
FF) We definitely want to support our local community. We are still brand new at this and we need to get the swing of things more before we throw ourselves into community development. We do however reserve our back room for meeting, book clubs, and personal engagements. We have also hosted two private parties since we have taken over ownership. Both parties have gone extremely well. We have closed the restaurant down for these parties and we are excited and most willing to book more private events!

ABS) What is one of the best pastries at the Friendly Fox?>
FF) Since everything is made from scratch at the Friendly Fox we take pride in everything that we bake. We have excellent cinnamon rolls, cheesecakes, scones, quiche, and cookies!

ABS) What is the Friendly Fox looking to do to celebrate customers in the New Year?
FF) We take pride and thankfulness in our customers' everyday! We welcome new customers and strive to make our loyal regulars feel at home in our establishment.

ABS) What is your favorite part of owning the Friendly Fox?
FF) Knowing that we own a local business in such a great neighborhood brings all four owners great happiness. We still cannot believe that we have all made our dreams and our goals about this place come true. There is room for improvement and that is something that all of us strive for. We love having the freedom to express ourselves through our business and we love having a sense that we are doing something good with ourselves.

The Friendly Fox has a unique opportunity due to their location here in the Fort Wayne community. Because of their singular south side location, The Friendly Fox could attract local business association meetings, women's groups, book clubs, neighborhood association meetings, and parents clubs.
Their south side location if already dotted with a number of bars, and taverns, so a meeting house, coffee shop image might bring in a completely different customer base.
As for me, I will continue to frequent the Friendly Fox and am hoping to see more and more customers do the same.