Meet Shawn Adams | Chef Shawn

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shawn Adams and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shawn, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
`honestly, growing up in the projects I always knew how to hustle whether it was in a good way or bad way I knew how to survive. Cooking was instilled in me at an early age from my grandmother for she was known for her southern cooking and her homemade biscuits, and I had to learn real bad !!! my partner Treye and I had just got our son duke he is not our biological son but we had him since birth and he came from a situation but I wanted better for him so his mother allow us to raise him as our own and we never looked back but I didn’t want him to have a hard life like it was plan for him to have so I literally started sell plates out my car to selling and catering out of my garage like a restaurant and that’s  what birth Southern Boii Cuisine .So my biggest goal was to create a generational wealth for my family as well as creating jobs in my community .

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
“Southern Boii Cuisine LLC”, is a family-owned and operated business that provides high-quality catering services to families and businesses. Our focus is on providing delicious, home-style meals that are perfect for family gatherings, corporate events, and other special occasions. We specialize in southern cuisines like oxtail, smothered turkey wing, collard greens, homemade mac & cheese, honey bun cake and sweet teas and lemonades in various flavors just to name a few items. I would like to say it was not easy trying to start a food business during the pandemic things were beginning to shut down and nobody was trusted anyone unless you had a credibility and credibility is something that I had because I am working with a lot of people in various call center all over charlotte  and I know when you work at a call center you are always hungry so I literally started selling plate out the trunk of my car in 2019 until  now , We are currently in the process of expanding into a brick in mortar but with funding being hard to obtain making the process slow but I’m trusting God in the process. What I am most proud about is my persistence and dedication towards making this dream happen. I have covered a lot of milestones in a short period of time, and I am surely proud of that. I even was invited to attend Pinky Cole & Derrick Haynes present American Sesh and I was awarded $10,000 from the Fearless fund foundation and I knew right then l only doing the will of God. I went into that room with zero dollars to fund my business and left there with 10,00.00 because they believed in me. I had to overcome obstacles daily, such as not having the proper experience, not having the proper education, coming from a different background, being from the projects and even being Gay all these things were only life lessons. My son may not be my biological son, but he will know that you must work for everything you want in life and wait for nothing. If there is something that I would want the world to know about me is that I turned my hustle into a family business and if I can do it, you can too!!!! We are still looking for donations and investors because this is not only a business but a community. Feel free to pledge with us.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, I live in a small town so it not a lot to do here but got to take them to Melvin’s for burger and Georgios for pizza and wings but the good thing is that the beach is about 30 min away so we definitely go to check out the beach but when my friends come visited me they want me to cook for them derick, jeree and Kentrell oops or visited my mother for a good laugh.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First to the highest Jesus who blessed my hand!!!!!I would like to dedicate my shout out to my grandmother, grandma Jet! Even in her absence, her presence is known in my cooking!! To the love of my life Thurman {treye) Balwin who pushed me off the edge to show the world my talents in my passion in cooking, to my baby boy Duke for being my biggest critic with daddy this is busting busting or nah that’s not it, to my mother the master blaster thanks for riding this wave and loving me unconditionally!! To my cousin kadedra thank you for always being available at the drop of a dime! to my spiritual mother Apostle Sheree Amore thank you for covering me mama!! Special shout to all my supporters who have been rocking with me for 4+ years from the DMV to the North Carolina area. I’m forever grateful to you all!!!

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/nc.native

Image Credits
Damarest D Jackson, Carl Carter