Jake Burgess, owner and head chef of FoxGardin Kitchen and Ale in Fortville, in 2022.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
FORTVILLE — Before becoming a renowned chef and opening FoxGardin Kitchen & Ale in his hometown, Jake Burgess was simply a young boy growing up in the small town of Fortville.
Family meals were always a big deal at his house, where his mom would cook supper every night, and his dad would grill out on the weekends. The whole family would enjoy each meal sitting around the dining room table.
“Looking back, we spent some of the best days of our lives around that table,” said Burgess, whose FoxGardin restaurant has become one of the hottest spots in town.
On Saturday, the celebrated chef will celebrate FoxGardin’s 10th anniversary with a community cookout and concert behind the restaurant at 215 S. Main St., in the heart of the historic downtown.
Guests can enjoy free food and drinks, as well as a Kids’ Zone and an array of music, including a performance by the Corey Cox Band.
Burgess has offered up free food and fun for the community on FoxGardin’s anniversary every year since he first opened in 2015. He also picks a local charity to benefit from a fundraiser at the event each year.
An estimated 6,000 people attended the party in 2024, raising $220,000. This year’s charity is Kammy’s Kause.
“We like to show some love back to the community of people who supported us,” Burgess said.
Those childhood meals he spent elbow-to-elbow with family are the centerpiece of his success, said the chef.
“The conversations, experiences, meals — as well as lifelong memories — are all splattered against the walls of FoxGardin. I wouldn’t be anywhere near the person I am today without my parents, Smoky and Jane Burgess,” he said.
Since FoxGardin first opened, within a cozy two-story brick building with a dark blue exterior, it became an iconic part of downtown Fortville, helping to kickstart a decade of growth in the downtown.
Fellow local business owner Kevin LeBarr credits Burgess for helping transform the downtown into a thriving shopping and dining district.
“I wouldn’t have brought my restaurant to Fortville if it hadn’t been for Jake doing what he did,” said LeBarr, who owns AJ’s Wine & Dine Garage at 305 S. Main St., just a few doors south of FoxGardin.
“He has inspired others to make the town somewhat of a culinary destination. I don’t think the rest of us would have done what we have done if it hadn’t been for him paving the way and really doing something phenomenal,” said LeBarr, who owns multiple restaurants. He purchased the former 305 Wine Garage in Fortville in 2023.
Libby Wyatt, who opened a furniture store on Main Street in Fortville before opening her Libby’s ice cream shop in 2019, also credits Burgess for helping transform the downtown.
“Now 10 years later the Main Street is thriving and is a destination for good food and shopping. As a fellow business owner and resident of Fortville, my family frequents his establishments, and feels like part of the FoxGardin family,” she said.
“Jake took a risk on an idea to open FoxGardin in his hometown, a town that had struggled to get back to what it once was,” said Wyatt, also a Fortville Town Council member. “I believe his restaurant was the catapult that brought more restaurants, visitors and shops to Fortville’s Main Street.”
Looking back
Burgess, who has lived in Fortville most of his life, is proud to have made such a solid stamp on his hometown.
“I felt like Fortville was somewhat of a ‘food desert,’ and I saw potential,” said the chef, whose goal was to open a scratch kitchen, which makes fresh food from scratch, in a historic town.
He knew exactly what he wanted to bring to his small, tightknit community — an inviting place where diners can enjoy upscale food and quality service. “Something similar to fine dining, but in a relaxed atmosphere,” he said.
With that vision, FoxGardin Kitchen & Ale was born.
It was 10 years ago that Burgess first started the hunt to find a restaurant to make his own.
“I was the corporate chef of Prime47 at the time and had reached my potential,” he recalled.
He started the search with a friend and mentor, searching around Indianapolis, including Fountain Square and Broad Ripple.
“We were really close to closing the deal on a few opportunities, and at the last minute the deal would fall apart,” recalled Burgess.
On one particular visit to Fortville to see his parents, Burgess noticed that the former Georgetowner, an English-style pub and restaurant in Fortville, was up for sale.
Burgess stopped in and chatted with the landlord, and gave him a letter of intent to rent the space.
At the time, Main Street was different from the bustling commercial district it is today.
“I was doubted by locals, peers and critics alike,” recalled Burgess.
Proving them wrong wouldn’t be easy.
Within 17 days of preparing the restaurant, Burgess ran out of money, and pushed up his start date to generate revenue.
Since then, customers have been flocking to FoxGardin, where the Fortville tenderloin, bone marrow fries, fish tacos and fillets are among the biggest sellers.
On the grow
Burgess has been blissfully happy to have proved his naysayers wrong, building a successful restaurant and also branching out to other endeavors.
His company, The BRG (Burgess Restaurant Group), has opened multiple restaurants over the past decade.
Burgess opened a second FoxGardin location in 2017 — FoxGardin Family Kitchen at 10410 Olio Road in Fishers. It was designed as an all-ages version of the restaurant, although a state law has since changed to allow those under 21 to dine at the Fortville FoxGardin, as well.
Burgess opened The Den by FoxGardin in 2018, a counter-service-style eatery within the Sun King brewpub at 351 Monon Blvd. in Carmel.
He plans to open a similar eatery within Sun King’s upcoming Westfield location next year.
In 2020 he opened Smoky’s Concession Stand at 732 Main St. in Lapel.
The casual eatery, named for his father, is the site of where Burgess got his first taste for the restaurant business — running a concession stand at the auction house his father ran.
“The last $100 my dad ever gave me was to buy hot dogs and soda when I was 7 to start my concession stand,” recalled Burgess, who ran a successful business even back then.
Smoky’s Concession Stand, which sells sandwiches, salads and more, “is an ode to my upbringing,” Burgess said.
The thrill of running the stand as a child inspired his future career as a chef and restaurant owner.
“To have people enjoy your food is a unique thing. Seeing that at an early age no doubt had a big impact on me,” he said.
In 2023, Burgess made one of his longtime dreams come true by acquiring the acclaimed Bonge’s Tavern at 9830 W. County Road 280N in Perkinsville.
“I feel like it’s the second-most-famous restaurant in Indiana behind St. Elmo’s,” said Burgess, who said the tavern is similar to FoxGardin in its shotgun-style layout, chalkboard menu and laid-back vibe.
“I’ve been such a fan of the place for so long,” said the chef, who had been “bugging” the former owner for nearly five years with an offer to buy the restaurant if he ever decided to sell.
The deal finally came through in 2023, and Burgess has been carrying on the Bonge’s Tavern tradition of good food and good times ever since.
“We offer really refined, classic dishes that are done really well, with rock-star service, which is what put Bonge’s on the map,” he said.
Burgess said it was Bonge’s that inspired the concept that made FoxGardin what it is today.
Reflecting on success
Burgess credits his “really strong crew” for the success across his multiple restaurants.
“We don’t have a lot of turnover. They say your employees or your team becomes part of your family. Being able to see them expand their lives and grow together has been quite rewarding,” said the restaurateur, who counts 215 people on his team.
When he first opened FoxGardin in Fortville, most of the staff had never been to Fortville, and many had never even heard of it. Since then, many of them have moved there and made it their home.
While he doesn’t cook as much as he used to, Burgess is still a frequent fixture at each of his restaurants. He leaves the daily grind, though, to an executive chef and general manager at each location.
In light of all his success, Burgess is proud to say it’s that initial team and his first restaurant on Main Street in Fortville that kickstarted his entrepreneurial success.
Over the last decade, FoxGardin Kitchen & Ale has won numerous accolades by a number of publications and organizations.
The restaurant was named among the 52 best restaurants in America by Yelp in 2022. The scratch kitchen was also recognized in Indianapolis Monthly’s Best Restaurants and Best New Restaurants issues, along with other accolades in other publications and television and radio shows.
Burgess knew Fortville was a prime spot to open a potentially award-winning restaurant, focused on fresh food.
“I knew that scratch kitchens that focused on quality over quantity were rare outside of the (Interstate) 465 loop,” he said. “Overprocessed food and frozen items have taken over the restaurant world over the last 20-plus years or so. The only thing in our freezer is ice cream.”
Burgess got his first cooking job close to home — making pizzas at Mozzi’s in Fortville at the age of 15.
He would go to cook in a number of acclaimed restaurants — working for “some of the most talented chefs in Indy as well as southern Georgia” — until opening FoxGardin Kitchen & Ale in 2015.
The name is a combination of his mother’s maiden name, Teagardin, and the maiden name of his former restaurant partner’s mom, Fox.
Burgess’ mother still comes into the Fortville restaurant every day to make her “famous” Jane’s Pie.
“She has quite the following, and has become bigger and more famous than the brand at times,” Burgess said.
“She, along with my late father — a Hancock County legend — were my inspiration for cooking,” he said.
Burgess is now a sole proprietor at FoxGardin, and the celebrated chef has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
“Over the next 10 years we would love to grow, with communities that embrace businesses that empower, engage and are excited to grow as much as we are,” he said.