As part of our series profiling the finalists of the Business Champion Awards 2023 we spoke to Paul Hargreaves, the founder of Cotswold Fayre, who are a double finalist in this years awards.

What do you currently do at ‘Cotswold Fayre’

I am the founder and CEO (Chief Empowerment Officer) at Cotswold Fayre, which has two sides to the business.  The main business, which started in 1999, is a wholesaler of speciality food to around 2,000 retail sites across the UK – farm shops, garden centres, delicatessens, food halls etc.  Then in June 2021 we also opened our own retail site, called Flourish, which sells our own products and has a 120-cover restaurant.

On both sides of the business, I am fortunate to have two fantastic leadership teams who look after most of the day-to-day side of the business.  I set culture and strategic direction and support them in the great work they do.  I have discovered as I become older that more often than not other people can do a better job than me; I just need to be good at finding the right people!

What was the inspiration behind your business?

Originally, I was selling a few products from The Cotswold’s in my spare time in the late nineties and a farm shop manager mentioned how difficult she was finding to easily source and order a decent range of fine British food.  It turned out that this was a common problem, so we rented a small warehouse, filled it with gorgeous food and drink and started supplying retailers all over the UK.

I came from the charitable sector to start the business and was keen to have a business that wasn’t just about making money but made a positive difference in the community.  So, of our original first five employees, three others might have called ‘unemployable’; ex-con, recovering drug addict and alcoholic.  Since 1999 we have tried to make a positive different in all we have done since then in both in a social and environment way.

Imagine then, our delight when we discovered the B Corp movement in 2015 and became one of the first B Corps in the UK.  These are all businesses like us that put people and planet before profit and there are now 1,200 in the UK.  This movement is our main inspiration now and I spend around 20% of my time talking to other businesses about being better for people and planet.

Who do you admire?

That’s like a question I ask at interviews, “Excluding family members, who has most inspired you in your life?” I have always been disappointed with people’s ability to answer the question.  There simply aren’t enough inspiring leaders around who are inspiring their people to be better.  In fact, this triggered me writing a book about being an inspiring leader, The Fourth Bottom Line.  I use Nelson Mandela as a superb example of leadership in that book, so he would be the answer to this question.  We can learn more from reading his autobiography than any leadership or management book you might have picked up.

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?

Short answer: ‘plenty’.  The main two things would be to make sure I listened to my intuitive side more.  The main times I have made mistakes were when I made a very rational decision but had a nagging feeling inside that we weren’t going in the right direction.  I am better at this now, but still learning.

The second would be to take on better people sooner.  We now have a great team, but we would have better earlier if I had taken on more expensive, experienced people earlier.  They always make back for the company the extra they are paid.

What defines your way of doing business?

Put people and planet first and the profits will follow.  These days consumers and buyers want to buy products and services from companies that are making a positive difference in our broken world, both for the planet and the poor.  Companies that do this will flourish in preference to those businesses that are only about shareholder benefit.  The more we have given away as a business, the more we grow.

What advice would you give to someone starting out?

Don’t hold back and be afraid to fail, dream your dreams.  Clearly there needs to be a balance between taking risks and playing safe, but most play safe for too long.  There is still a taboo around failing in the UK.  I would rather employ someone that has failed and learned than someone who has never taken a risk.  I would also counsel anyone starting out to ensure there are people around them (not family members) who they can turn to for advice.

Cotswold Fayre are a double finalist in this years Business Champion Awards in both the Sustainable Business category and Growth Business of the Year

Read more:
Getting To Know You: Paul Hargreaves, Founder & CEO, Cotswold Fayre

Every weeknight, Dan Rea is busy at work upstairs in his Chestnut Hill home.

Wearing a headset with a mic, Rea keeps an eye on his laptop to see who is calling into NightSide, a talk show the veteran Boston newsman hosts on WBZ NewsRadio 1030 AM from 8 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday.

NightSide entered its 16th year on the airwaves in October, and Rea said he won’t be calling it quits anytime soon. He is having too much fun on what he calls “North America’s Virtual Back Porch,” as he connects with listeners from across the country and in Canada.

“You don’t have to be a U.S. senator or governor to be a caller to my show,” said Rea, a member of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame. “Your voice and your opinion is just as important to me as a governor or senator because you are a part of the fabric of our society. Those voices need to be heard.”

Rea adapted to his remote work environment at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, more than a year-and-a-half after WBZ NewsRadio moved its headquarters from Soldiers Field Road in Allston to Medford in August 2018.

Working out of his Chestnut Hill home has caused Rea to lose the ability to have eye contact with his guests and read their body language, which made the transition to the remote world challenging.

Rea has overcome those early hurdles, evidenced by the number of listeners and guests that continue to call into NightSide on a nightly basis. Rea broadcasted the year’s final episode of NightSide on Thursday, when he hosted the show’s 10th annual charity combine by interviewing representatives from 22 charities across New England.

Though he has enjoyed interviewing some big-named politicians, such as former U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, on his show, Rea said he believes the charity combine is his most important episode of the year.

“I want to connect my audience with some of those charities so they could either contribute to them or volunteer for them,” he said of the purpose behind the charity combine. “Those people are important because of the amount of good they do, more so than a major politician or a famous person.”

Self-identified as an independent, Rea said the topics he discusses throughout his show dictates whether he stays neutral or takes a side. He made his opinion known during a segment earlier this month on the Dedham library director rescinding her initial plan not to put up Christmas trees in the town’s two libraries.

“It would be like me saying, ‘Tonight, I’m going to do a special show and we’re going to do the sounds of silence for an hour,’ ” Rea said. “(Listeners) would be like, ‘You’re a radio talk show host, you have to do a show.’ It just doesn’t make any sense.”

In other instances, Rea said he prefers to give more time to listeners and guests so he can gain a deeper understanding on the issues of the day. Rev. Kevin Peterson, founder of Boston-based New Democracy Coalition, appeared on the Dec. 15 episode to discuss the Boston City Council approving a committee to study reparations for Black Bostonians and what that means.

Rea’s approach to his shows is a shift from when he reported stories “right down the middle” during his 31-year-career as an on-air television reporter for WBZ-TV, the CBS affiliate in Boston.

Awards that Rea has received throughout his decorated career — including the Yankee Quill Award, considered the highest individual honor for journalists in New England — cover a wall near his studio on the top floor of his home.

“I watched this city grow over decades,” Rea said about working in the Boston news industry. “When people talk about the bad old days, hey, I lived in the bad old days. I went to Boston Latin School, Boston State College, Boston University Law School. I’m a Boston guy, very proud of the city but I can still be critical.”

Over the years, as technology and social media have evolved the journalistic landscape, Rea has become active on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Every day, either Rea or his producer post previews and recaps of that night’s show on Faceboo

Sometimes, depending on the magnitude of a particular issue, Rea said, stories could be covered “wall to wall,” such as the immediate aftermath of the bombing at the Boston Marathon in April 2013 and the search for terrorist Dhzokhar Tsarneav.

On other days, when the news cycle is slow, Rea said he has to get creative and “come up with a spin that would interest people.”

The WBZ NewsRadio signal reaches 38 states, allowing Rea to form relationships with listeners from across the country and in Canada, including Clark in Pennsylvania, Richard in Toronto, Chuck in Georgia, William in Baltimore and Susan in Chicago, all of whom are frequent callers, he said.

“Without callers, I don’t have a talk show,” Rea said. “I am not the show. The callers and guests are the show. They make the show work. If it’s just me for four hours, who’s going to listen to me for four hours? They may for a while but not for long.”