Fly Bye, the Detroit-style pizza and wings concept from restaurateur Sam Fox, has closed both of its metro Phoenix locations after six years in business. The company announced the closures in an Instagram post on Wednesday, telling customers that some of the menu's favorite dishes will live on elsewhere in the Valley.
“We have made the decision to close our two Fly Bye locations,” the company said, according to its website, flybyetogo.com. The same notice pointed fans toward a familiar name in the Fox Restaurant Concepts family, saying diners can “enjoy many of your Fly Bye favorite dishes at Doughbird on the Fly, now available at Doughbird North Central's to go counter.” As The Arizona Republic reports, the brand is a Sam Fox concept, and Fly Bye closed after six years in operation.
From Ghost Kitchen to Brick-and-Mortar
Fly Bye's roots trace back to the pandemic era. Sam Fox, the restaurateur also behind Zinburger, Flower Child and Culinary Dropout, opened Fly Bye in 2020 as a to-go-only takeout window at The Yard serving Detroit-style pizza and wings, according to a 2022 report from the same Arizona Republic. Per flybyetogo.com, Fly Bye started as a ghost kitchen before growing into two brick-and-mortar locations, according to the company's Instagram announcement.
Separate coverage from Nation's Restaurant News described the concept's menu similarly when it launched, noting that Fly Bye would serve Detroit-style pizza and fried chicken alongside wings, mozzarella sticks and pizza. That same outlet reported that Fox Restaurant Concepts had planned to open a Fly Bye To Go spot in Phoenix on Dec. 9, though it's unclear whether that timeline was affected by this week's closure announcement.
A Winding Expansion Through the Valley
Fly Bye's physical footprint grew steadily after its ghost-kitchen debut. North Central News reported that what began as a pop-up ghost kitchen at 5632 N. 7th St. in Phoenix in 2020 later expanded, with a second location officially landing at Desert Ridge Marketplace on July 14, 2022.
A 2022 report from inbusinessphx.com described a third Fly Bye location opening in Arcadia that November, stating it complemented two other locations in Phoenix and Desert Ridge. That account of three locations differs from this week's closure notice, which refers only to “our two Fly Bye locations,” and the available information doesn't explain the discrepancy or specify which locations were still operating at the time of closure.
Ownership Ties to The Cheesecake Factory
Fly Bye has been under The Cheesecake Factory's ownership since 2019, after the Calabasas Hills, California-based company acquired the remaining interest in Fox Restaurant Concepts that year, according to Nation's Restaurant News. That corporate backing had followed earlier investments in sister concepts North Italia and Flower Child.
For now, Fly Bye loyalists in metro Phoenix have one remaining option for a taste of the brand: Doughbird North Central's to-go counter, where Doughbird on the Fly is serving up some of the shuttered chain's familiar dishes.
