From the ground up: How Avella Fox turned her dream of running her own restaurant into a reality
By Kenicia Francis
“It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. It’s how you set and stay focused on your goals,” says Avella Fox, owner of the Fox House restaurant.
She established the thriving Valley Road business in December 2020 – at the peak of the Covid pandemic.
“One of the things that made me successful is I believed in me,” Avella explains. “If you don’t believe in you, it’s very hard to get other people to believe in you.
“I live and breathe the scripture, ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me’, and I pray diligently.”
Avella’s dream of running her own restaurant dates back to when she was a young teenage mother waitressing in Guyana. She later moved to Barbados and switched to interior decorating.
In 2005, she visited Antigua for her sister’s wedding and “gravitated to Antigua because of the warmth of the people”.
Avella started waitressing at the Carlisle Bay resort where she rose through the ranks to become restaurant manager.
She also waitressed in English Harbour and worked as a butler in a private home at Jumby Bay while raising her two boys.
“I was doing three jobs while raising these boys. So I said to myself, you can’t continue to raise them and be away from home,” she tells Observer.
“That’s when I really started praying and trusting in God to take me to the next level in my career so I could provide for these boys and give them motherly love and discipline.”
Subsequently, she went on to work at Nonsuch Bay as a food and beverage manager. She rose to group operations manager over the course of five years until the pandemic struck.
“Since I was 19, I would fantasise about owning my own restaurant. Whilst home in 2020 during the pandemic, I had no drive to return to the hotel. I tried, but I just felt that need to go for my dream,” she recalls.
“I could always see myself in fine dining, paying key attention to detail and full guest satisfaction of service with the theme ‘farm to table’.”
The Fox House opened during the state of emergency, but was forced to close just one month later, along with all restaurants in the country, due to strict restrictions.
When the government allowed reopening with the option of delivery, the Fox House found success instead by converting its dining experience to a mobile shop.
Avella explains, “We tried delivery but it didn’t work because we weren’t as established, and people see themselves coming to Fox House to dine in.
“We had three grills and went to the outskirts of St John’s on All Saints Road and set up shop. My chefs were cooking on that corner for three days a week.”
She claims that decision kept them afloat until the government allowed restaurants to fully reopen.
In 2022 the restaurant won TripAdvisor’s Travelers Choice Award, a feat all the more remarkable due to the struggles they had faced.
Said struggles included using second-hand equipment and not having the resources to properly store their meat.
“Everything was bought second-hand because I couldn’t afford new equipment,” Avella says. “Some days we would go in and all of the meat would be spoiled so we would have to throw everything out.”
By 2023 she was able to replace the old appliances. But catastrophe struck again when the Fox House was burgled with the thieves making off with the restaurant’s five fridges.
“We just started coming up for air when we were burglarised. All our new equipment was stolen…We were on a high when this happened,” Avella recalls.
However, she says, “We rose. Within three days we were back and we didn’t speak of the negative but continued taking care of our guests.
“I’ve always felt that guests come to the restaurant to relax and enjoy themselves. It’s not for us to burden them. So, we held our heads high and pressed on.”
Asked for any words of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs, Avella adds, “Set a goal. Give yourself a timeline so even if you haven’t accomplished it when time is up, you’re at least on your way.”