A Year on the Road: The Foxxy Foods Story So Far

Image By Andrew Ward Photography

A year ago, Foxxy Foods did its very first event at Deva Fest 2025.

At the time, none of us really knew exactly where the business would go. We had a van, a concept, a lot of enthusiasm and, most importantly, two people who were willing to get stuck in and make it work: my son Scott and Dill, who is our Head Chef at The Chester Townhouse.

They are the ones who run the van day to day, prep the food, travel to the events, deal with the customers and handle everything that comes with operating a mobile food business.  As Scott’s dad, I have obviously watched the whole thing with a lot of pride, but I am also a co-owner of the business, so I have seen first-hand the good decisions, the bad decisions and all the lessons that have come within that first year.

And there were plenty of lessons.

Over the last twelve months, Foxxy Foods has done festivals, markets, weddings, private events, corporate catering and regular food nights. Some events were fantastic and others, quite frankly, have not been worth doing.

We have travelled to events where the crowd simply wasn’t there, we have been stuck in muddy fields, we have had generator problems, we have even had complaints that the generator was too loud for other traders so we had to move the generator to sit down a load of steps, and there have been times when the weather has made the whole thing considerably harder than it needed to be.

But looking back, I would not necessarily change those experiences.

They have all played a part in making the business better.

One of the biggest things Scott and Dill have learnt is that saying yes to everything is not always the right way to grow a business. When you are new, you naturally want to take every opportunity. You want the exposure, you want the van out there and you want people to know your name. But once you consider pitch fees, food, fuel, staffing, travel, preparation and wastage, an event with very little footfall can quickly become something that simply is not worth doing.

That is a lesson you can only really learn by experiencing it.

The same has been true with the food itself. Foxxy Foods has not been afraid to change things when something is not working. At their Farmers Arms residency, for example, the team initially ran curry nights. The food was well received, but the numbers were not quite where they needed to be. Rather than carrying on simply because that was the original idea, Scott and Dill changed direction and moved towards Greek food instead.

The response improved and they continue to have a healthy steady weekly gig.

That ability to adapt has probably been one of the most important things to come out of the first year. It is very easy in business to become attached to an idea because it was yours. The harder thing is to look at what your customers are telling you and change course when you need to.

That brings me back to Deva Fest.

Last year, Deva Fest 2025 was the very first event Foxxy Foods ever did. Twelve months later, Scott and Dill went back to the same festival with a year of experience behind them.

They were better prepared. They understood the operation more. They knew what equipment they needed, how to manage demand, how to prep more effectively and, importantly, they had made plenty of mistakes during the year and learnt from every single one of them.

This year, Foxxy Foods made double what it did at Deva Fest the year before!

For me, that is what makes the first year worth talking about.

Of course I am proud of the result, but I am prouder of what sits behind it. I have watched my son build something, get things wrong, deal with setbacks, keep going and come back stronger. I have watched Scott and Dill put the hours in, work events in dreadful weather, cope with all the problems that customers never see and continue improving the business as they go.

As a dad, that makes me incredibly proud.

As a co-owner, it makes me excited about what Foxxy Foods can become.

The business is still young and there is still a lot to learn. There will undoubtedly be more mistakes, more difficult events and probably another muddy field or generator problem somewhere along the way.

But that is business.

You try things. You get some of them wrong. You learn. You adapt. And hopefully, when you come back to the same place a year later, you can see just how far you have come.

For Foxxy Foods, Deva Fest 2026 was exactly that moment.

A year on from their very first event, Scott and Dill returned with a better business, more experience and a lot more confidence.

And they are just getting started.

Contact scott@foxxyfoods.com for any enquiries or private events!