It’s safe to say they’re magically delicious. No, not the frosted and toasted cereal with marshmallows you get from your local Walmart, but the home-cooked meals you can get by taking a trip to the Redpoint apartment complex off Mission Road.
Carmen Powell, 20, is a third-year biology pre-med student at Florida A&M from Jackson, Mississippi. Just a year ago, she would not have expected to open a business selling plates outside of her apartment.
Powell is the founder of her small business, Luckee Carms ,where she sells home-cooked food for no more than $15 a plate. That is if you can resist the temptation to add extra sides for an additional cost.
Luckee Carms sells different plates from soul food, featuring all of your favorites, to pick-three meals that include your three choices of either wings, buffalo chicken sliders, Rotel dip, bar-b-que meatballs and plenty more to choose from. One of Powell’s more popular plates is “Soul Food Sunday” featuring a main dish of either fried or baked chicken. She had such a great outcome, she had to run it back for the second time this past Easter Sunday. It seems like no one can get enough of that fried chicken.
Luckee Carms gained inspiration from a hobby that Powell has always been passionate about — cooking. Why not invest in the things you are passionate about, right? Well, Powell was already hip to taking time to invest in cultivating her skills and hobbies to bring in a possible source of income.
“I love cooking. It’s like very relaxing for me, like a stress-reliever,” Powell said. “… and at the time I was a little broke, so I said why not turn it into a business and make some money?”
Five months later, after the opening of Luckee Carms on Nov. 19, 2020, business is booming, and Powell is enjoying every moment of it.
“The best part of Luckee Carms is seeing people enjoy my food … because sometimes I am a little insecure about my cooking, So being reassured that my food actually tastes good is the best part to me,” Powell said.
Well, no need to be insecure, Powell. Some frequent customers can attest for you. Derriahna Farley is a regular at Luckee Carms. Farley has had nothing but positive experiences buying food from Luckee Carms.
“There is always something new and always something I am going to enjoy,” Farley said. “There’s never been a time that [Luckee Carms] was selling plates that I did not buy.”
Zyqueric Richardson, a general health science student attending FAMU, was able to speak on how surprised he was to see Powell take off with her business.
“I wouldn’t say proud, more so surprised,” Richardson said. “I definitely would think [selling food] was something that somebody would quit and not be as consistent with. I definitely see the consistency and [Luckee Carms] is getting better over time.”
Powell does not plan to further this business upon graduating next spring. Until then, do not miss out. Powell’s business page on Instagram allows customers to view content of her food and to always know when the doors will be open next. People following this page get to interact with Luckee Carms and occasionally help in picking the next meal through Instagram polls.
Get notifications when Luckee Carms will be open next by following @luckeecarms on Instagram and turning on your post notifications. Pre-orders are highly recommended.