Why we set up Ruxstons - The History

Gabriel Purdey
Aug 11, 2025
7 min read

Updated: Aug 23, 2025

Why We Started Ruxstons

Ruxstons was co-founded in 2021 by myself Gabriel Purdey, and my brother Fraser. We share the same business, but our reasons for starting it aren’t identical, I can only speak for my own reasons, and for me, it came down to two things:

I wanted to bring exciting, high-quality food to people in a down-to-earth environment.
I wanted to create something entirely from scratch.

An Unorthodox Start

My parents weren't hippies per say, but they were certainly very "green", and green in the late 80's and early 90's was a bit odd to say the least. I was born in a caravan. We had no electricity, no fridge, no TV and clothes were never new. We had no washing machine, and in the summer often no running water. We picked mushrooms in the fields to make soup, foraged the hedgerows for fruit, milked the cows and grew much of our own food. From a very early start we never ate any processed food, it was all either grown ourselves or very carefully sourced, my parents put a lot of time into providing us with a healthy diet despite the lack of money.

I’m one of six children. My dad was often away, on TV or the radio, lecturing at universities from Japan to Australia. He had strong views on the causation of BSE, which was a big health scare at the time, and wasn’t shy about disagreeing with the authorities. He became well known in his field when he prosecuted the Ministry of Agriculture in 1984 and famously won his case gaining respect from many including Lord Tom King, and then, the Prince of Wales (Now King Charles III). He could walk into a room and conversations would stop, everyone wanted to hear what he had to say. It was very inspiring. The main message he, and my mother gave to us was to watch incredibly carefully with anything going into your body as sometimes advice and guidance changes over time, in food terms this has a huge influence on myself and how it formed and affected running a business.

He often spoke proudly about our family history, how the Purdey name had built the best shotgun in the world, sold to Kings and Queens across Europe. We’d hear about cousin Richard Purdey taking Merrydown Cider onto the FTSE 250, and building up legendary levels of loyalty from his employees such was his devotion to the business. Whilst none of us had a particular interest in these areas, the perfectionism that went into these businesses left a long and lasting impression, if something is worth doing, you should fully commit to doing it well. This was very important later on.

First Steps in Business – Discover Chocolate

I decided not to go to university, most people I knew did, and for many it was absolutely the right choice. For me, it felt like too big a financial risk without a clear career choice in mind. I knew I wanted to build something but admittedly remained, like a lot of 17 year olds, a bit unsure. I tried different jobs and eventually landed at Royal Mail in Taunton.

I rented a small room in Taunton and used the flexible hours to work on my own idea: creating a food product I could sell everywhere. The idea of starting completely from scratch was very exciting and appealed to my sense of adventure and desire to find a challenge. I knew, given the opportunity I could bring a sense of creativity and make something exciting.

I emailed factories all over Europe, most people told me to get a degree first, didn’t respond at all or asked for huge sums of money upfront. But one person, Simone Debernardi from Turin, replied to my emails and took me under his wing. He invited me to Italy, where I created a chocolate brand with a factory he worked with. I named it Discover Chocolate. Walking into the factory in Turin was one of the best moments of my life and the moment I realised that this was something I wanted to do and it was something I could do.

I personally found the chocolate industry very conservative in its approach. I really like to push the boundaries and try lots of new ideas from paper packaging to the flavours themselves. For many years fruit and nut was always raisins and hazelnuts, I immediately launched our best selling Fig and Cashew bar. We tried combinations such as Coffee and Cardamom and Rose Petal and Lavender. Not all of them worked but there is no penalty for getting it wrong.

It started small but grew quickly. We developed our own flavours, designed the packaging, and sold in hundreds of shops across the UK. Getting into Selfridges, Whole Foods, and Fortnum & Mason felt incredible. I built a factory in England and for a while it looked very promising.

But the reality was tougher. Margins were too slim. I refused to adapt the business model, sticking rigidly to my original vision. Over time, that inflexibility, combined with high costs, made it impossible to continue. I sold the business.

Selling Discover Chocolate at a Trade Fair

It was a huge blow. I was no longer the young, hungry 19 year-old with nothing to lose, I was 24, and the self imposed pressure was far greater, even if this looks irrational in hindsight. My old classmates were advancing in their careers, and it was hard not to compare my situation to theirs. My early decisions now looked like mistakes.

I went to Sicily to work on a natural vineyard for a small company called Etnella. Natural wine is wine made with minimal intervention, using organically or biodynamically grown grapes, with no or very few additives, and little to no filtration. I really enjoyed working in the organic sector abroad and it hugely helped motivate me to return to the UK and try again. I floated around different factory jobs for a while and settled at Mademoiselle Desserts in Taunton where I worked my way up to become a soft commodity buyer negotiating the contracts for the business. Whilst this was not the type of food that inspired me, sometimes you have to learn the more commercial aspects to running a business to make one you do love work. It was also good fun working within the team both on the factory floor and in the office.

Year 1 – Starting Ruxstons ... Horner

My sister, Holly Purdey, had taken on a farm tenancy at Horner and invited me to open a shop there. Horner is a very busy little hamlet in the summer and it made perfect sense. I asked Fraser to join me, luckily, he agreed. Fraser brings a completely different skill set to mine. He’s brilliant at honing the small details until they work exactly as we need them, wheras I typically take a broader view. His calm, balanced nature makes him the ideal person to turn to when something hits a snag. He’s got a knack for solving all sorts of problems, often in ways I’d never have thought of, and approaches every challenge with a mix of technical know how, confidence, and a healthy dose of optimism.

At first, things went well. Then winter hit and sales crashed. One day I sold two coffees: £4 in revenue. Anyone who’s run a business knows those moments. Going home to my then-girlfriend and answering the “How was your day?” question wasn’t easy. Sometimes you just have to keep believing in yourself and the project, even if the evidence tells you to stop.

Clearly, this wasn’t sustainable. We pushed into online sales, but progress was slow. Around this time, I was offered a job in the procurement team at KDC/One in Wellington. Walking through town, I noticed the old One Stop had closed.

Years 2–4 – Wellington

Horner wasn’t going to work long-term, so we started looking for new premises, Taunton, Minehead, but nothing felt right. The risk often seemed too high for the potential reward. Of course, the longer you wait, the more pressure builds: wait too long and you can’t move, but you can’t move into something that is worse.

Fraser pushed strongly for Wellington. It was risky. We couldn’t afford to fully stock and fit it out, but it seemed to have the most potential, if we could survive the first 12 months. The problem was that any money we invested early would have taken too long to earn back, and with high fixed monthly costs we needed to keep as much cash as possible just to survive. As a result, the only strategy I could see was to invest virtually nothing in the shop for that first year. and then focus entirely on building our website, which would cost nothing to develop.

In principle it worked, but in practice it was hard to keep customer confidence when you looked like you were failing. We did our best to tell people it was going as planned, which it was, but it didn’t look like it to anyone outside of us two. We cut costs wherever we could: no heating, lights dimmed and kept to the bare minimum. It really reminded me of growing up, which oddly I slightly enjoy. I find challenges like this a real part of what makes life worth living.

After 12 months, online sales were stronger and we could start reinvesting in the shop. After we had been in Wellington a year we really looked to develop the business. We added a coffee machine and built a little place to have a coffee after people had done a shop. It was amazing and the continued support from locals and how so many of them have gone beyond just customers and become friends in more than anything we could have wished for. We found the town in general very friendly and welcoming and everything really seemed to come together, each day that passes I find myself more thankful we did choose Wellington.

After 24 months, we hired our first member of staff, an incredible milestone and it finally gave myself and Fraser the chance to take a day off! It was definitely needed. Now, at 36 months, we have a team of six talented people. To have the skills of other people to call upon has really helped us develop, in the past if myself or Fraser were struggling with a concept, it was harder to push through with only each other, but now the skills within the team are so varied there is always someone who is an expert in that particular area. I feel a great sense of pride when I see members of the team grow and develop at Ruxstons, seeing them in the newspaper launching the chocolate factory or simply developing areas of the business I hadn't done and improving things it feel amazing to know in some way Ruxstons has helped them with something.