Is This The End For Dose Market? [Updated]

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jul 5, 2012 3:15PM

Speakers by Gentleman's Boombox at Dose Market. Photo by Roger Kamholz.

Despite the 1950s cliffhanger-soundalike headline, drama is actually afoot at the popular monthly artisanal market. Over the weekend, we got an email from the founders of Dose, Heather Sperling, Jessica Herman and Emily Fiffer. It sounded like some pretty heavy drama had gone down, but that everyone was being polite and very, very vague.

They wrote:

"We're writing to let you know that the three of us are no longer involved with Dose Market. We do not know what the future holds for Dose, but should it continue to exist, none of us will be involved in any capacity. All inquiries regarding the future of the market can be directed to April Francis. The three of us are proud of what we created and extremely thankful for your continuous support over the past year. Rest assured that we are hard at work planning our next venture -- stay tuned!"

We've never met April Francis, who runs a design and consulting company - though she was apparently the fourth founder of Dose Market. We contacted Sperling to follow up, but all she would say was that she preferred not to comment and that she was excited for her next project.

Eater Chicago got a bit more out of Sperling, but things were still pretty vague.

Sperling explained that Francis approached her and Fiffer in early 2011 with the idea of doing a fashion market called Dose; the idea then to expand it to include food resulted from conversations between the three of them. However, Francis wrote to Eater Tuesday morning and said that Dose was the culmination of years working with and for small businesses in Chicago and made it sound like she was the sole creator by referring to the others as "contributors."

Whether Dose market continues or not, we doubt it will be as popular. The three founders (or contributors) are all prominent journalists and have amazing food world contacts. This allowed them to bring in vendors with products that were sold nowhere else - see Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Charcuterie from Old Town Social, Flour from Nellcote and countless other unique items. Restaurants debuted there, and even among those of us who were initially skeptical, Dose Market had become a standby. Just last week, we tasted a new product and our first question was "when will we see that at Dose?"

We'll keep you updated on the future of the market, if there is one.

Update: We heard from April Francis, the new controller of the Market. As Eater also reported, she identified herself as the "founder" and the three who left as "contributors" and said that Dose will continue, monthly at it's current location. Still no info about what happened or why. We'll see what the market looks like come July 29th. Her complete statement is below.

As Dose Market's founder, operations manager, event producer and one of the original four curators, Dose Market is the result of many years working with small retail businesses and was created strategically to serve these small businesses and those who love them.

In one year of Dose we have succeeded in our mission to support and
grow a thriving community of the best in food and fashion in and
around Chicagoland.

It has truly been a community effort and we are so grateful for the
support we have been shown. It is with a heavy heart we confirm that
three of our valued contributors have decided to leave. Emily, Heather
and Jessica have been a wonderful addition to the team and we wish
them continued influence and great success in their future endeavors.

Moving forward, Dose will continue to serve Chicago’s incredible
culture of artists, artisans and entrepreneurs and those seeking the
very best in Chicago food and fashion. You can expect exciting new
developments at the July 29 Market as we grow steadily into our second
year and continue with Sunday Markets September 9, October 14,
November 11 and December 9 at the River East Art Center, one of our
greatest champions.

We are thankful for the generous support of the Chicago community over
the past year, now and in the future. Dose Market will continue to
provide strong support to all of the vendors who make Dose Market what
it is — an extremely warm and creative community, a launchpad for new
products and the place to find the very best in food and fashion in
Chicagoland.