For most of Mark Foxton’s life, he can remember his father, Bob Foxton, being an entrepreneur. When Mark was young, he remembers his father running a mobile lunch business, and prior to that, he was a foreman at Lloyd Doors.
“In the morning we would get up at some ungodly time to help make fresh sandwiches with bread from MacIntire’s and whatever else,” he remembered. “I would butter the bread and pass it down the line to my siblings and then to my Dad to sell in his van.”
Bob’s Mobile Lunch would serve lunches and snacks to the Wingham factories during their lunch and afternoon breaks.
“I don’t know how it came to him going with the Supertest,” Mark admitted. “I don’t know if they answered an ad or if Len Bok said to Supertest, ‘Here is someone who might be interested.’”
Bob Foxton was 34 years old when he purchased the Wingham fuel company from Len Bok on Aug. 17, 1972, at the time it was part of the Supertest corporation. This was Bob’s second or third career in life and ended up being exactly where he was meant to be.
Throughout Bob’s 31 years owning Foxton Fuels, he transitioned the company through multiple corporation changes.
The first was soon after he took ownership when BP Canada purchased Supertest Petroleum. Just over a decade later, the Crown corporation Petro Canada purchased BP Canada in 1983. Finally, in the following decade, Petro Canada was sold by the Government of Canada and became a publicly-traded company in 1991.
Additionally, Bob led the company through five consolidations with other local companies in Wingham, Brussels, Clinton, and Walkerton.
Pictured are Bob Foxton and Mark Foxton after they announced that Mark would be taking ownership of Foxton Fuels. (Wingham Advance Times archive photo from Nov. 19, 2003)
In 2003, Bob gave his retirement notice to Petro Canada, with the intent that his son Mark would be allowed to purchase the business from his father.
“It had always been the plan that I would take over with Petro Canada’s approval,” Mark explained. “Unbeknownst to us, Greg Bitton in Listowel had given his notice to Petro Canada as well.”
Petro Canada offered the Listowel site to Mark, which also included the Mount Forest location. This would involve Mark not only taking on the new role as the owner but also doubling the size of the business, all in his first year of being a business owner.
“I thought, ‘Oh God, I don’t have the money for that… So, at first, I told them no,” Mark recalled.
A month passed after Mark initially declined the offer when Petro Canada called him back to renegotiate a deal where Mark would purchase the additional locations.
Ultimately, a deal was struck.
“It turned out to be a great thing. It was a shock all at the beginning, but it worked out,” Lisa Hearnden, Mark’s wife, explained. “We have been really lucky with our staff. Almost everybody stayed on with us and if they didn’t it was because they retired.”
Looking back, Mark was especially grateful for his family’s involvement in the business at that time.
“At that time, Dad was still able to be there to support me through this,” Mark recalled.
Although Mark officially started working for his parents in 1994, he can recall many times as a child going over to the Wingham location to cut grass or other odd handy jobs.
“When I think back about this, I think my first paycheque of any sort came from Supertest or BP sometime around the age of Grade 4 or Grade 5,” Mark said. “In the summer I went up and sanded, scraped and painted fuel tanks. Sometime at the end, Dad came home and handed me a cheque and I think it was from Supertest, made out to Mark Foxton and I can’t remember the amount but it was roughly $200. I asked Dad what this was for, he told me it was for my work painting tanks, and I just thought, ‘Wow.’”
Mark said his parents never pushed him to work for the family business, but in 1994 after he had completed his post-secondary education he went over to his parent’s house for a Sunday dinner and they popped the question.
“I had been to university, gotten my two degrees, and had done some sales work. Mom and Dad never pushed me to take over the business,” Mark said. “But it was at a Sunday night supper, they asked me to consider working for the family business. I thought, ‘OK, let’s see where this goes.’”
He started out delivering products, setting up tanks, taking calls, and filling in for other employees when they took a vacation or needed time off.
“Bob really started Mark with the basics and then slowly increased his responsibilities,” Lisa recalled. “And then when he retired, Bob didn’t have any hobbies at that time, so he would come and sit and hang out. He didn’t really work a lot but he would come and visit from about 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and he would chat to customers. The first year, the transition was slow for us because Bob was still there, still talking to customers, still talking to staff, but it was nice because Mark had someone to ask questions to.”
“He would tell me a lot, ‘This is what I would do but it is your business to do what your like,’” Mark added. “I miss that aspect a lot. In the beginning, he would tell me his strategies and give me guidance for dealing with the bank. He was a pretty great mentor.”
Bob Foxton passed away on July 6, 2021, at the age of 82.
“I would often go to him and ask him what he would do in this situation and in that situation,” Mark said. “And even when he was in charge I would always ask, ‘Why did you do it this way?’ And he would often relate that our success is based on our relationship with our staff and our customers, it sounds cliché, but it is true.”
It is safe to say another huge part of the Foxton family business is community support. The company has a long-standing history of supporting local charities and organizations, volunteering their time, and even just participating in local events.
For example, the team of Foxton Fuels staff was the four-year running champions of the Musical Muskrat Festival’s cardboard boat race.
When asked why the company is so community-oriented, Mark explained it was simply “learned behaviour” from his father.
“My dad was a big fan of volunteering and sponsoring,” he added. “He sat on a lot of committees like the theatre, he was a member of the Optimist Club, he was the building chair for the community complex, and he sat on the board with the credit union. He was largely involved in the community. So when people ask us it’s like yes of course, and I learned it all from him.”
Mark himself has been a longstanding supporter of minor sports, sponsoring countless teams and even coaching PeeWee and Atom hockey for years.
“I think he (my father) had this ship going that way, and I thought, “Let’s just keep it going,’” Mark said. “Wingham has been very good to me, Listowel has been very good to me, Walkerton and Mount Forest, too, and I just want to give back.”
Foxton Fuels tends to focus on youth sports and healthcare, however, they have recently become annual bidders at the 4-H Livestock Market Animal Auction.
“A few years ago, I got this wonderful letter from this young girl and her cow, who has a name, Badger, and there was a picture of her and the heifer,” Mark explained. “So, the letter is, ‘I go to these 4-H shows and her Dad loads this cow into the trailer, and the pickup truck is filled with gas from Foxton Fuels. Anyways, we are going to this 4-H show in Blyth at the Auction Centre, would you please attend?’ To which, I question why am I going there.”
After talking to other local businesses who participate in this event, he learns that his attendance means he will bid to purchase the cow.
“So off we go, and you pay through the nose because it is a fundraiser for the kids, but anyways I buy Badger,” Mark said.
“I’m not sure what we thought we were doing with a cow. I don’t eat meat,” Lisa joked. “So, I ask if we are bringing this cow home to graze in our backyard?”
Ultimately, Foxton Fuels decided to donate the meat to local food banks, because they didn’t have a personal need for it.
Since his first attendance, he has been asked to come back year after year. He said this past year he had received four invitations and he ended up purchasing two cows and a lamb, with all the meat being processed locally then donated to local food banks. Additionally, the funds spent at the auction go to the children participating, to help them get their start in the agriculture industry.
“After one of the sales, they asked if we could take a photo,” Mark added. “So, in the photo, it’s me, the grandpa, father, and daughter with the cow. The father is a customer of mine, and the grandpa was a customer of my Dad’s, and he was nearly in tears he was so proud of this girl, his granddaughter. It was three generations and me and this cow. I feel pretty good bringing that sort of happiness into someone’s life.”
Lisa credits a lot of their success to their passion for their community.
“We are community-oriented, I think that is one of the reasons why we have been, not just successful… but I think we have been able to continue Bob’s legacy because we have also been involved on many different levels and people recognize that.”
“I tell my Mom all the time, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for her and Dad,” Mark added. “I am truly a function of my parents.”
50th Celebration
Foxton Fuels is planning to celebrate their milestone anniversary all year long with many memorial posts on their social media, but as for one single celebration, the company is undecided.
“We have been back and forth with what we should do,” Mark admitted. “Should we hold a customer appreciation event in the summer, or what? We want to celebrate it, but it would have been a whole lot cooler if Dad was here with us.”
Phone or visit a site in Wingham, Listowel, Mount Forest or Walkerton to congratulate Foxton Fuels on 50 years in business, or follow them on Facebook to participate in their celebration all year long.
