Creative Visionary: Lauren Culley

Lauren Culley has all the creative drive in the world—and then some. She followed her artistic intuition on a winding path to success, and it all culminated into Fox in the Snow, a beloved Columbus café. I recently sat down with Culley to hear more about how each of her intuitive decisions brought Fox in the Snow to life. 

After graduating college and starting her career as an editor in New York City, Culley suddenly found herself stuck on the business end of things. She felt a pull to something more—an urge to do the creative work herself.   

“I was at the Brooklyn flea one day and I went up to a baker who made this fresh mozzarella. He’d rip open a warm baguette and slather it with the mozzarella, pesto, and olive oil, and it was the best thing I had ever eaten. I ended up asking if I could volunteer to help run the booth even though I’d never worked with food, and he said yes.”

That experience catapulted Culley into the food scene, leading her to her next job—a cookie scooper at the café where she would eventually meet her husband and business partner, Jeff Excell. 

Fox in the Snow came to life through a multitude of creative yeses, and since its 2014 opening, Culley and Excell have continued to trust their instincts, including listening to the wants of the community. Culley is the first to admit Fox would not have succeeded without that input. “It has always been the support of the community that kept us going. Especially during those difficult early days.”

When Culley landed their first location, she dove headfirst into interior design. Transforming a stark warehouse into a community hub was no small feat, but it set the precedent for an energy that would later be replicated with and tailored to each new neighborhood location. 

“The timing of everything was absolutely unreal because developers were buying everything. I decided to go where the developers weren’t looking—Craigslist. There were no pictures of this building, but I called and shared that I wanted to turn it into a bakery. She asked if I’d serve banana bread and I said yes without any hesitation.” The first Fox in the Snow location was decided, and so was the first menu item. Culley says, to this day, they keep banana bread on the menu for that reason—and it is still a best seller. 

Lauren leads the interior design for all their locations, and describes their first location, Italian Village, albeit empty, dark, and lifeless, as a no-brainer. “There were no windows, no electricity, and no plumbing. But my parents’ advice when house shopping is if you can picture where the Christmas tree goes, you should buy the house. In this space I knew where the Christmas tree would go.” Now, with multiple locations, there’s a certain je ne sais quoi that remains consistent from one to the next.  “We’ve been trying to stay really true to the spaces and unique buildings. No two spaces look the same, and that’s a part of the very intentional design decisions going into the different neighborhood locations. Each location has its own personality but to this day if I can’t picture the Christmas tree, I’m not going to do it.” Their newest location will open in Westerville in Fall 2025. “The Westerville locale has more seating than any other location which we are very excited about. The design part has been really fun, and we just want to make sure that everyone in Westerville loves their neighborhood Fox in the Snow.” 

Considering they don’t have their name on any marketing materials, aside from their website URL, Fox in the Snow’s recognition is something astounding. Even their café front consists exclusively of their logo—something Culley had a gut feeling about from the start. “There’s a Scottish band called Belle and Sebastian and they have a song called Fox in the Snow. We were going to go see them in concert and, as one does before a concert, we were listening to the songs on repeat, and that song came on. As a joke my husband was like ‘let’s just call it Fox in the Snow; and I was like, ‘that’s it.’ I grabbed a scrap piece of paper and started sketching out the logo, which is the same logo we have today. Choosing the name and the logo all happened within 45 seconds and after that no one could convince me that it wasn’t the greatest name in the world. Everyone tried to talk us out of it.” 

Even the aesthetics of Fox in the Snow pastries are recognizable, big and delicious with perfectly imperfect made-by-hand charm. “So much of our menu has remained the same, which I’m really proud of. When we opened, since we thought we would be primarily a coffee shop rather than a bakery, we didn’t have a huge menu, but we did have the same staples we have today: cinnamon rolls, biscuits with housemade jam and salted honey butter, sticky buns with toasted pecans, blueberry scones cut into triangles so they can fit in your coffee cup, and the infamous egg sandwich.” The menu boasts approachability, familiarity, and comfort. “Each item is intentional but also very simple and not overly complicated in any way. The menu is something I hold close and am involved with every step of the way.” It’s clear the community also holds the menu close. The Fox team has tripled the amount of baked goods it’s producing per shop to meet demands.

“I’ve been very humbled and overwhelmed by the ownership people have in this, all of the memories that people make, the beautiful emotional connection that people form with our spaces. It became so much bigger than anything anyone could have dreamt up. You have a longevity that is even out of your control. You can’t compete with nostalgia.” Just then, Culley spotted a regular across the room and pointed out that he and his partner were married at one of their locations 7 years ago. She jumped up quickly to confirm with him that it had, in fact, been 7 years. It’s so clear that this café is rooted in community—and it’s all been brought to life by Culley’s creativity and imagination.