Southern Boii Cuisine serves exactly what the name implies— delicious soul food.
Courtesy of Shawn Adams
Southern Boii Cuisine serves exactly what the name implies— delicious soul food.
Courtesy of Shawn Adams
Shawn Adams is a Bladen County native with a passion for food and giving back to his community.
Courtesy of Shawn Adams
Shawn Adams is a Bladen County native with a passion for food and giving back to his community.
Courtesy of Shawn Adams
Shawn Adams has been through a lot of hardship in his life, but that hasn’t stopped him from chasing his dream of owning his own restaurant in his home of Bladen County. In fact, it has motivated him more to work as hard as he needs to provide for his family.
“Honestly, growing up in the projects, I always knew how to hustle whether it was in a good way or bad way,” states Adams. It’s no secret that needing money can push people to do things they never thought they could. After all, necessity is the mother of invention.
“I knew how to survive,” states Adams. “Cooking was instilled in me at an early age from my grandmother [who] was known for her southern cooking and her homemade biscuits.” Many southerners can relate to the feeling of being in the kitchen with a beloved mother or grandmother and watching her hands make the most delicious magic. “I had to learn real bad.”
Adams and his partner Treye knew that they had to figure out a way to provide for their adopted son, Duke, who they adopted at birth. Duke’s biological mother was in a tough situation and was not able to raise Duke in a safe environment, so she allowed Adams and Treye to raise him as their own. “I didn’t want him to have a hard life like it was planned for him to have, so I literally started sell plates out [of] my car and selling and catering out of my garage like a restaurant.”
That is what birthed Adams’ business, Southern Boii Cuisine LLC. Not only did Adams want to be able to provide for his son and family now, but his biggest goal was to eventually create generational wealth for his family, as well as create jobs in Bladen County.
Adams’ has entered multiple competitions which, if he wins, would provide some much-needed funds to help him achieve his dream. He is currently competing in Carla Hall’s “Favorite Chef” competition, the top prize of which is $25,000.
“If I was to win the $25,000, I would definitely invest it into my business, states Adams. “At the current moment, I’m currently working on renovating a leased space to expand my catering company so that $25,000 would come in handy with building a legacy for my family.”
Adams will also be participating in the Burgaw Own Your Own competition. According to their website, “Own Your Own, a company created by Richard Johnson, is designed to give want-to-be entrepreneurs the opportunity to open successful businesses that help revitalize small towns all across America.”
Adams describes Southern Boii Cuisine as “a family-owned and operated business that provides high-quality catering services to families and businesses [with a focus] on providing delicious, home-style meals that are perfect for family gatherings, corporate events, and other special occasions.
Adams and his teammates specialize in southern cuisines like oxtail, smothered turkey wings, 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,” states Adams about the process of starting his own business. “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.”
Adams attributes his success thusfar to his faith in God. “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.”
Outside of the business aspect of things, Adams acknowledges how hard it can be to push past life’s hardships to achieve your goals.
“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,” states Adams. “All these things were only life lessons.”
And although he is working hard to ensure that his son never has to struggle, Adams still plans to teach Duke the value of hard work. “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,” states Adams. Duke even helps tweak recipes, and Adams calls Duke his biggest critic. According to Adams, Duke calls it like he sees it and will confidently say “daddy, this is busting busting” or “nah, that’s not it.”
Southern Boii Cusinine is still looking for donations and investors with Adams exphasizing that “this is not only a business, but a community.” There are also options to pledge.
Shawn Adams would like to “thank the highest Jesus who blessed my hand! I would like to shout out my grandmother, grandma Jet! Even in her absence, her presence is known in my cooking! [Thank you] 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…and to my mother Ms. Brenda Adams, the master blaster. Thanks for riding this wave and loving me unconditionally! Thank you to my cousin Kadedra Adams…for always being available at the drop of a dime, and to my spiritual mother, Apostle Sheree Amore, thank you for covering me, mama!”
Adams extends special thanks to Mr. George of Giorgio Pizza, Mrs. Debbie from United Bank, and Mrs. Hope Clark for all of their help.