We recently connected with Kym Joles and have shared our conversation below.

Kym, appreciate you joining us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Going from Idea to Execution was about overcoming the fear of being a failure. The voice we all have in our mind of “are we enough”. We live in a time that is so hyper critical, where if you make a mistake you are cancelled, or if you are not enough you are reviewed. It too me a while to reach a place in my life, that I felt like I didn’t care so much for what people thought of me. I had to reach a place where I felt, if I didn’t do it now, I wouldn’t do it all all. I wish I had taken the leap from idea to execution sooner, but I am a strong believer that when the time is right it all happens the way is should.

You just have to jump straight in, head first and try. To me success is in the journey more than in the destination. The actual start of my business was getting myself mentally ready.

Relationships and networking I would say are the most important part of the execution, while I was new to the area of Plymouth I worked hard at building relationships that I could call on when I didnt have an answer.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

.

The idea for The Fox and Pantry was as decision compacted by the isolation of Covid. The need I saw for people to get together and share in each others lives. I was born in South African and lived in Europe the culture around gathering is very much inbred into a way of life. The fast pace “grab and go” culture while convienient, felt very counter intuitive.

Plymouth needed a place for people to gather and share in the connection that was lost, a place that creates beautiful curated and custom events. I think customers are tired of being a transaction, a seat to be turned over. So I designed a space that feels comfortable, like a home so customers can stay and built connections. We serve organic coffees, stunning craft cocktails and house made food. We host incredible events, curated by our team everything from corporate to weddings. The idea to have small gatherings with a private chef and an experienced bartender at the customers fingertips. We support other businesses by hosting classes and workshops everything from florals to pasta making . We even have a gifting service, that covers everything for our corporate clients The space is designed to be quirky and welcoming.

I love that I get to build on my love for design, culinary and hosting a dinner party comes together in one space. I had to just listen to all the things I was passionate about and put them together under one roof. We all deep down know if we are on the right path, I am honored that I get the opportunity to serve the Plymouth community my way.

I don’t this the idea for the business is something I came up with , I think the business is something that found me. We are all taught to follow our dreams, find your passion. For me starting the Fox and Pantry is an a accumulation of all the ideas that felt right to be, the idea of serving, creating, gathering and inspiring others.

I was born in South Africa and lived on a remote farm, I fell into the kitchen from an early age, enjoying the idea you could create something and it would bring joy to others and then it was gone. I didn’t grow up in a digital age back then you had projects to keep you busy, this was mine. I used to watch how people reacted to the food they ate, and in a weird way became the way I was accepted and felt loved. In turn it became my love language, after all food is fundamentally the common human language I just had a desire to be fluent.

As I am a visual learner and see the world in patterns and shapes I was drawn to the creative side of food and the visual appeal it had. I had some rough teenage years, struggled with my relationship with food, it became a challenge in my life.

I travelled to London and found myself entering into a world where art fashion and the world of autonomy was enthralling. Finding out who I was in my 20’s, I found my love to the culinary arts was always the one space I would turn too. Having friends over and having long drawn out dinner parties, I would plan for days and engross myself into how to best be a host, to serve and again to watch as people enjoy the art of cooking. After 12 years, my husband and kids moved to America, not being able to get employment due to visa restrictions I fell into the world of decorating and married my love for design and food. Filled with my strong desire to learn, I started to accumulate a foundation of experience, so I began to teach my passions to those who were willing

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding is always the hardest part of starting a business. I really didnt want to lease a space, I was sure I wanted to design the business from start to finish, walls, plumbing and all the fun bits too. I really wanted to have the investment in the building as well as the business.

I worked hard on flipping our previous homes, I have always loved real estate and know that if you do it right you can have some great gains. The property market is a fun one, I enjoyed the design and the challenge of changing something that was tired to something new and comfortable. We were very lucky to have been living in Seattle when the market was an all time high. After moving here, I bought my space and so it started

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Opening a business that requires 7 days/nights of your week and balancing a family of 5 that needs you in between has been the hardest for me. 90 hour weeks at work, laundry late at night, sleeping a couple hours and repeating. I knew it would require work to open a business, but the sheer physical effort is immense. It is hard to not feel like something is falling behind, lets just say laundry and I have come to terms

When you own the business or are the mom, you have no time to step off the train, self care or time off is not something you have the luxury of. While I love every minute of both my responsibilities at home and at work, balance is something that looks very different to my previous life. The shower at the end of the day about sums it up. It takes an enormous amount of resilience to “keep going” when there are times when you want to stop for a minute and just breath

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thefoxandpantry.com
• Instagram: thefoxandpantry
• Facebook: thefoxandpantry
• Linkedin: KymJoles

Image Credits
Jux Media Kristen Thompson