Precious Thompson Jones — aka “The Candy Lady” — found a sweet spot to sell her cuisine.
Jones, who strictly operated out of a food truck, opened Fabulous Flavors & Friends restaurant two months ago.
“We have both chicken and waffles and t-bones and waffles, omelets, quesadillas,” she says. “I have soul food, peach cobbler, banana pudding. We sell a little bit of everything.”
Jones, who is from the west side of Chicago, moved to Memphis 28 years ago. “I love Memphis. Memphis saved my life.” Chicago wasn’t safe, she says. “The criminal history is so bad. … So, my parents decided to move to a different state.”
Jones got her nickname working at Big Daddy’s, the candy store owned by her grandfather, the store’s namesake. “We sold bootleg liquor. We sold appliances. I am the ‘Candy Lady.’ I always had to stay under my grandfather selling snacks. My grandmother was Big Mama.”
When she was 8, Jones began helping Big Mama in the kitchen. “I learned how to make her peach cobbler, tacos, pies, different cakes.”
She kept her nickname in Memphis. “I started being a Candy Lady at Oakshire Elementary and, later, when I went to Whitehaven. I was selling the chips. I was selling the drinks, the popcorn. I was selling the pickles. I used to do hair perms. I was a jack of all trades when I moved to Memphis. When I was in high school, I started selling CDs and DVDs and purses. The fake Gucci and Louis Vuitton.”
But, she says, “When I got out of high school I got in trouble. I became a felon. My identity got stolen. I went to jail for four months, but that was the best four months of my life. My pain turned into my passion. They had a cafeteria in jail. I started cooking there.”
When she got out, Jones got into programs, including Second Chance Agency and Habitat for Humanity. “From all those programs, they put me with Memphis City Schools. I was a cafeteria lady for 10 years.”
Jones got laid off after the schools merged with Shelby County Schools. “I had just met my husband [Lonnie Jones]. He said, ‘You always said you wanted to go to culinary school.’ I enrolled in L’Ecole Culinaire.”
After graduating, she worked for the Memphis Grizzlies and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and she bought her first food truck, which she opened in a Cash Saver parking lot.
In addition to food, Jones added “characters,” which are the “Friends” in her restaurant’s title. Children dress up in Mickey Mouse, PAW Patrol, and other costumes at the restaurant, food truck, pop-up parties, and parades she organizes.
For two years, Jones had her eye on her restaurant’s space. “And finally got it opened. I always wanted a Waffle House-type restaurant.”
She visited Goodwill and other places for equipment. “I got on Facebook talking about my dreams and goals. All kinds of strangers donated cash and equipment to help me get this restaurant open.”
The restaurant is painted black and white and pink, which were her “wedding colors”; purple for “royalty”; and yellow. “Yellow is Big Mama. I buried my grandmother Big Mama in yellow.
“I want it to be funky. I want to bring Hollywood to Memphis.”
Her extensive menu includes Big Mama’s peach cobbler, and she has her characters. “If you want to sit down and eat chicken and waffles with Mickey Mouse or PAW Patrol, you can do that at Fabulous Flavors.”
In the works are a funnel cake truck, a hot dog truck, and a games truck. The energetic Jones, who still operates her Fabulous Flavors food truck, also caters and teaches food truck classes.
She has help, but The Candy Lady, who might be wearing a large pink chef’s hat, is usually at the restaurant to greet her customers. “They always say you’re going to sleep when you’re dead. But nobody is going to run my business like me.”
Fabulous Flavors & Friends is at 2063 East Brooks Road; (901) 314-0735
I am so proud of Precious and her story! I think it is about time to stop by for my favorite wings and waffles with a “to go plate” of soul food.