Fresh fish, prime meat, and a gourmet grocer has arrived in Kirkwood, and it’s all under one roof.
On July 22, Fox’s Finest, Meats, Seafood & Marketplace (159 W. Argonne) officially opens its doors with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. The market is located at the corner of West Argonne Avenue and North Clay Avenue, directly across the street from 4 Hands + Peacemaker.
The market is owned by Kirkwoodians Kevin and Luke Beattie, a father-and-son team who both share the middle name Fox, a family name that’s been passed down for generations. The duo has hired two chefs and an onsite butcher to help deliver top-quality products along with unparalleled customer service, areas in which the Beatties excelled in prior businesses. Here’s what to know before you go.
The Concept and Food
Fox’s Finest aims to function as equal parts butcher shop, seafood market, gourmet grocer, and neighborhood gathering place. The Beatties are supplying everything from wagyu beef and prime ribeyes to more affordable premium cuts, along with fresh seafood, prepared foods, sauces, pantry staples, and local products. “Affordability means different things to different people,” Kevin says. “We feel we have all those bases covered.”
Sampling and education will be central to the experience. Customers can expect recipe cards paired with tastings, ranging from grilled ribeyes and chops to and baked fresh fish. “We contracted with a local supplier to provide three homemade sauces plus aged vanilla extract, a product that has never been marketed here,” Kevin says. “We plan to sample that using whipped cream. Who wouldn’t like a spoonful of whipped cream made with premium vanilla? Or we’ll sample chocolate chip cookies made with that vanilla, alongside the recipe to make them. That’s the philosophy we’re maintaining across all our product lines.”
“We’re going to be sample heavy,” Luke adds. “We want people to say, ‘I wonder what Fox’s is featuring today?’ We’ll respond with finished dishes, recipe instructions, and we have it all right here.”
That philosophy extends to seafood, where the team hopes to demystify unfamiliar products for hesitant home cooks. “Some people are intimidated by having to cook something they’re not familiar with,” Luke says. “They don’t want to risk spending $20 a pound on something they may not like.” Tastings and how-to cards, he says, are intended to “ease the unease,” while chefs on the floor will act as educators as much as salespeople. “They will be our CSR’s,” Kevin says, there to help people but not dominate.”
Prepared foods will also play a prominent role. Sandwiches will be made to order, including porchetta from spit-roasted suckling pig sliced fresh from a rotisserie. Other sandwiches will feature meats prepared on an indoor smoker or grill. Rotisserie chickens will only be sold during select windows throughout the day to maintain quality and freshness. “After a certain point in time, you can’t deliver either,” Kevin says, “and if we have extra and choose to repurpose it into chicken salad, for example, we’ll do that immediately, before it has a chance to deteriorate and dry out.”
The Beatties say they’re inspired by institutions such as Annie Gunn’s and The Smokehouse Market, but believe Kirkwood’s historic neighborhood setting gives them room to carve out their own niche. “We were taken first by the location,” Kevin says, noting the building’s roots as a neighborhood general store dating back to 1875. “We want to revive that to a certain degree but provide high-quality food across all price levels. Plus, we live in Kirkwood, so there’s that built-in connection.”
The Layout
The market encompasses roughly 2,200 square feet in front, with another 1,300 square feet in back. The retail floor is organized around a U-shaped service counter featuring a 12-foot meat case, a seafood case, and separate pork and poultry displays, allowing staff to work efficiently between all three stations.
Prepared foods and the rotisserie sit adjacent to an 8-foot butcher block order counter, while open-air merchandisers stock dairy products, charcuterie, cheeses, and beverages. Displays throughout the store are designed to encourage customers to shop for complementary ingredients and meal pairings.
The interior feels both polished and nostalgic. Two-tone green shelving set against blue-green walls will display dry goods, local products, and cookbooks, channeling the charm of neighborhood gourmet markets like The Annex in Webster Groves. Overhead, rice-colored wallpaper embossed to mimic a vintage tin ceiling adds texture and warmth, while cherry-stained laminate herringbone flooring was chosen for its durability.
A freestanding Italian marble-topped table near the center of the store will showcase pastries, pies, and cookies while helping direct customer flow through the space.
In the rear, a small wine nook accented with reclaimed century-old wood and a mural of rolling vineyards will highlight bottles selected to pair with the market’s food offerings. Some wines will come from locally connected producers, including a Kirkwood family that recently purchased a winery in Italy after meeting its former owners during the Kirkwood Wine Walk. Blindspot Vineyard was the result.
The Team
Fox’s Finest has hired two chefs, including one with experience across multiple cuisines, to oversee prepared foods, customer education, and day-to-day interaction on the sales floor. The Beatties emphasize that customer-facing employees will be central to the market’s identity.
“In our other businesses, we realized that it’s the people at the foot-traffic level who make the difference,” Kevin says, comparing the role to Sam Malone greeting patrons at Cheers. “They’re what will stitch us into the fabric of this community.”
The operation is also investing heavily in butchering expertise. Whole fish and heritage-breed hogs will be processed onsite, and a premium beef program will distinguish the meat department from traditional grocery offerings. The Beatties hope to consistently carry two tiers of prime beef, including what Kevin calls a “next-level prime” sourced from a farm that’s not currently represented in St. Louis retail.
Luke has also made community involvement part of the launch process. Earlier this year, he presented the concept to students in a marketing class at Kirkwood High School—the same class he once took himself—and 14 seniors selected Fox’s as their final project, helping develop branding and launch ideas.
The Beatties hope that customer participation eventually becomes part of the market’s culture as well, whether through recipe sharing, social media groups, or even a future cookbook. “All of a sudden,” Luke says, “you’re building community around the food that you’re serving.”
The Background
While Fox’s Finest marks the family’s first food business, both Kevin and Luke bring decades of customer service and operational experience to the venture.
Kevin previously owned Dent Wizard franchises before purchasing the parent company, Dent Wizard International, in the early 1990s. After later selling the company to Manheim Auto Auctions, he acquired two large body shop operations in Orlando and tasked Luke—who was fresh out of Southern Methodist University’s business school—with helping run them. “In four years, he quadrupled the business,” Kevin says.
Luke later joined a private equity group focused on acquisitions in the collision repair industry, traveling extensively and studying customer service models and retail operations nationwide.
“I got to try amazing food in different retail settings from around the country,” Luke says. “I realized that this was what Kirkwood was missing. The experience prepared me to come back home and do something in my own backyard.”
Kevin says those experiences reinforced a lesson that applies equally to collision repair and food retail. “Luke had the best customer service scores of any body shop in the country,” he says. “At the end of the day, success often boils down to customer service and making people feel good—whether you’re fixing their car or selling them food for dinner.”
Fox’s Finest, Meats, Seafood & Marketplace
📍159 W. Argonne, Kirkwood
⏰Wed – Fri: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sat: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.; Sun: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
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