5 Minutes With: Gavin Cox

WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN’T IN THE FOOD INDUSTRY?
My job would always have to involve food I’m afraid, so either a chef or a farmer.

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB?
A cellar boy when I was 13 – I cleaned the pipes in a hotel and restocking nine bars.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
Family obviously, but seeing people fulfill their potential.

WHAT’S THE WORST JOB YOU’VE DONE?
Delivering pizzas. I had to wear red trousers, a red hat and drive a yellow Fiat Panda with a giant illuminated phone on top of it.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF YOUR JOB?
When you go into a store, pick up your own product and get it scanned through the till, and that first ding of the till means that you know that all your hard work has finally paid off!

AND YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE?
Paperwork – I’m a salesman.

TEA OR COFFEE?
Probably the hardest question! Coffee in the morning and a tea with a biscuit in the afternoon.

HOW ABOUT THE FOOD INDUSTRY – IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE TO CHANGE?
Sending 20 emails to then get a one word answer is frustrating.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR LAST SUPPER?
A 100-course tasting menu, cooked by a chef called Jeff Baker - the head chef of a restaurant I used to work at.

WHAT’S YOUR MOTTO?
Deeds not words.

WHAT’S THE WEIRDEST THING THAT YOU’VE EVER EATEN?
I’ve unwittingly eaten pan-fried bull’s testicle (chef’s humour)

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE BOOK?
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest or Larousse Gastronomique.

SWEET OR SAVOURY? Savoury all the way.