Paul Yaxley is the chef and founder behind The Fox & Goose, a fine dining restaurant and pub in Fressingfield, Suffolk, and its sister venue, the Little Green Wedding Barn at Thrandeston.
He has run the restaurant independently since 2002, so it will mark its 25th anniversary in 2027, a milestone that follows CGA by NIQ figures showing more than three licensed premises a day closing across the UK between December 2025 and March 2026.
The Fox & Goose won the Front of House Experience Award at the Suffolk Food and Drink Awards 2024, while the barn, which hosted its first wedding in September 2019, was named best barn venue in the East of England at the Wedding Industry Awards 2022.
He tells Business Matters why fairness beats aggression in business, why he still steps into the kitchen and why there is never a perfect time to start.
What do you currently do at The Fox & Goose and Little Green Wedding Barn?
I oversee the day-to-day operations across both our fine dining restaurant, The Fox & Goose, and our sister wedding venue, Little Green Wedding Barn, leading a team of more than 40 people. The restaurant also provides the catering for the wedding venue, where we host more than 50 weddings and functions each year, so there is always plenty going on.
Our restaurant has built a very loyal local following over the years and will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, which is something we are incredibly proud of.
I am very hands-on and, as a trained chef, I will often find myself stepping into the kitchen to help the team when needed. I believe it is important to be on the shop floor from time to time, to make you realise what your staff go through and how hard they work. I love multi-tasking and no two days are ever quite the same.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
Like a lot of people, I initially thought I would do something completely different from my parents.
I went on to train classically as a chef and soon found that there were not many places locally offering the kind of food and dining experience that I wanted to be part of. As opposed to moving far afield, I found the opportunity to create it myself.
That led me to take the plunge and open my own restaurant at 21, which seemed like a big step at the time. Four years later a bigger and better opportunity in the form of The Fox & Goose arose, giving me the chance to build something locally which people would genuinely want to visit.
Who do you admire?
From a food and business perspective, it would have to be Gordon Ramsay. He was a big inspiration when I was starting out. I remember buying his first book and watching his first TV programme and being fascinated by what could be achieved with confidence and hard work. It made me want to push myself to see what I could create.
I am also inspired by friends who work hard, building their own businesses and creating successful lives for themselves, and my own family motivates me to keep pushing forward too. I admire people who are prepared to make things happen for themselves.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Not especially. I have always been someone who looks forward rather than spending too much time looking back, firmly believing that most things happen for a reason, and there have been plenty of “Sliding Doors” moments.
Of course, there have been challenges along the way, but they have all played a part in shaping where I am today. Some of those experiences actually created opportunities that I might not otherwise have had and, ultimately, helped the businesses evolve into what they are now. I would rather take what I have learned from something and focus my energy on what we can do next.
What defines your way of doing business?
I try to be as fair as possible to everyone: our customers, our staff and myself. I have never believed in being overly aggressive in business. You can give people a nudge in the right direction, but fundamentally I believe that if you do the right thing and treat people well, they will want to come on the journey with you.
That applies to getting the best out of your team, some of whom have been with me for many, many years. It is the same when it comes to building relationships with customers. If people feel valued and enjoy what you offer, you build loyalty naturally rather than having to force it. That approach has always served me well.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
Believe in yourself 100 per cent. When things get tough, keep going, because quite often that is when the good things start to happen. Never panic. A new opportunity can appear very quickly, so always be ready.
In hospitality especially, listening to your customers is vital. They will tell you a lot about what you are getting right and where you could be better.
There is never a perfect time to start a business, you just have to do it. Keep looking forward and do not get dragged down by thinking about what you should or could have done differently; today is a new day. If you spend too much time looking backwards, you can easily miss the opportunities that are right in front of you.
