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Heavyn Jones has been cooking with her grandmother, Ethel Collins, since she was 10 years old. Eight years later, the Syracuse University junior has turned her longtime hobby into a business called Heav’s Fingerlicking Delights, selling home-cooked dinners from her apartment.

Jones began taking customers on Friday, with her debut menu offering salmon, shrimp, chicken and oxtails entrees with baked mac and cheese, broccoli, sauteed spinach and rice as possible sides. The menu changes on a day-to-day basis, and Jones posts the day’s menu to her Instagram.

“I don’t really like to work for other people,” Jones said. “I was thinking about all the things that I’m good at, and I thought to myself, ‘Well, you already know how to cook, and the food on campus sucks, so why not start selling food?’”

One of Jones’ fondest memories in the kitchen was standing on a step stool as a 10-year-old. She tried to lick cake batter while it was still being mixed by the electric mixer. Her grandmother had to shoo her out of the kitchen while the cake baked.

Collins said Jones has always been curious. She would watch her grandmother in the kitchen and ask questions while she cooked. As Jones grew older, she began to cook for herself.

Jones is now a junior at 18 years old, having graduated from high school at age 16.

“She’s very ambitious. She was always a curious young girl, always outgoing, outspoken,” Collins said. “She tried to get a job under the age of 18, and she used to come home angry, saying ‘Momma, they won’t hire me! They said I’m too young!’”

Jones is excited to pursue her business and to see who comes out to support her. She is a transfer student and has only been on campus for two years, which has made it difficult for her to branch off and make new friends in some instances, she said.

“I’m confident in myself, and that intimidates people.” Jones said, “I love myself, and I don’t look for justification from anybody else.”

She has advertised Heav’s Fingerlicking Delights through the many organizations she’s involved in, word-of-mouth and her personal social media accounts. She’s friendly with players on Syracuse’s football and basketball teams, and she made sure to tell the athletes about her business.

Customers can choose a small or large order of a main course for dinner with a choice of two sides. Currently, Jones is only cooking on the weekends, but she hopes to extend to weekdays in the future.

Jones’ boyfriend, SU sophomore Jordan Pierre, said that she cooks for him every other day. Pierre, a pescatarian, advocates for not only Jones’ seafood but her drive as well.

“So often we get so mixed up in trying to pursue academics we forget about the things we’re trying to pursue outside of this academic realm,” Pierre said. “Also, her as a Black woman starting her own business, that’s inspiring to not just me but to everyone.”

To order, customers direct message Jones’ Instagram account and place an order along with their ideal pickup time. Jones contacts the customers when the food is ready for pickup.

Jones tastes and cooks new food as a stress reliever and described eating as one of her hobbies.

“In the Black community, food is what brings us together,” Jones said. “Everyone loves mom’s cooking or grandma’s cooking. You can be fighting or having a problem, but once it’s ‘Come to the dinner table,’ all that goes out the window.”

Jones is looking forward to where this endeavor will take her and is excited for the SU community to try her food.

She views food as a tool that sets differences aside and allows people to relate to one another. Jones said if she had a larger setting to serve the food, there would be people connecting over her home-cooked meals.

“I just want to see where it’s going, how far it’s going to take me. Who knows, maybe I’ll open a restaurant,” Jones said. “I really like to cook, but I do want to be a psychologist — who says you can’t do multiple things?”

Published on September 20, 2020 at 9:34 pm

Contact Violet: velazaru@syr.edu