According to Mad Fox’s Facebook post, their last day of business is Sunday, July 21st. It’s a bit sad because Bill Madden is such a nice guy and brewed a few memorable beers. Unfortunately his beer and food offerings did not keep up with the newcomers in the neighborhood.
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This is the letter from Bill Madden announcing the closure:
July 9, 2019
Friends, Patrons and Supporters,
It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that I inform you of the closure of Mad Fox Brewing Company. Our last day of business will be Sunday, July 21st.
The decision to close has been an extremely difficult one to make. We have witnessed restaurant competition in the 2.2 square mile Falls Church City become fierce since our opening in 2010 with multiple businesses opening in the last year alone. As much as we tried to compete, there are an overwhelming number of choices for the local population. Sales have been on a slow decline over the last several years and, unfortunately, staying open is no longer sustainable.
On the brewing side of our business we continue to see more breweries opening in Virginia with two new Taprooms setting up shop within a mile of Mad Fox in the last year. When we opened in 2010, there were 40 breweries in Virginia. Now there are close to 250. The Brewpub business model is a tough one to maintain compared to a Brewery Taproom with little overhead, lower rents and outsourced food trucks. Our draw from the surrounding areas has dwindled in what has become an extremely competitive craft beer market, which has resulted in this final decision.
We attempted to work with our Bank and our Landlord for more favorable terms and while both were willing, we ultimately could not come to agreement that would allow Mad Fox to be break even or better.
We plan a closure date of Sunday, July 21st; however, we plan to continue with our 9 year Anniversary Party on Saturday, 13 July to honor you, our investors, our staff and the Falls Church Community. Words cannot express how proud I am of the Mad Fox legacy and the opportunity to be a member of such a wonderful community, if even for a short while. We opened the first brewpub in the City of Falls Church and have won numerous medals at the Great American Beer Festival as well as the Virginia Beer Cup. We have celebrated christenings, birthdays, weddings, retirements and many holiday gatherings. You, our guests, along with our spectacular Mad Fox team have enabled us to build tremendous notoriety over 9 years in business. I thank you for allowing Mad Fox to be a part of your lives. Thank you for your years of support and I hope to see you at the Pub in the coming weeks.
Sincerely,
Bill Madden
CEO and Executive Brewer, Mad Fox Brewing Company
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This sucks. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Glover Park location is what did them in… They poured so much money into that second location and it closed after about a year. Hard to dig yourself out of that kind of hole…
This sucks because the food and beer were always consistent. Hard to say about a place almost a decade old.
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This one hits close to home. Not totally surprised since there’s definitely some tough local competition that opened up in the last year or two, but still unexpected. Noticed they started changing up some of their specials, turning their burger day into a weekly thing and nixing the Cask Thursdays.
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I see the food competition, and the bar competition with Dominion and Space Bar, but breweries? At least the ones I’ve been too around Falls Church were definitely not as good as Mad Fox.
Oh my. They were one of the best brewers around here, almost certainly the best brewpub in NoVa, central the Falls Church urbanist revival. Sorry they couldn’t make things pencil out for whatever reason.
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Went on the final day and ran into @GenDV138, who was already there.
Spirits were great among the crowd, despite the circumstances.
Growler fills were all $10. I only brought one, I would have brought more of the flip top growlers I have to grab some of the ones people haven’t rated on here. I only picked up the Slobbernocker 2017.
It’s a weird feeling. There’s been other closures around the DMV area over the last few years, but this one actually hit me pretty hard. Maybe if it had the (slightly) slow death that Vintage 50 had where it was on the decline, then “rebranded” and then immediately closed a few months later, it wouldn’t sting as much.
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From Ornery Brewing:
We have secured the last 13 kegs of Mad Fox Brewing Company’s Another Eff’n IPA & 12 kegs of Razor Burn Mexican Hot Stout.
