Xzavious Hutchins went from watching Bobby Flay, a famous chef, as a child, to providing flavorful meals to his community.

Hutchins, 26, is a Public Relations student at USM from Indianola with a passion for cooking. His passion turned into a business as he became more independent during his time in college.

At 7 years old, cooking caught Hutchins’ attention. He wanted to learn more. Watching his mom, grandma, great grandma and dad cook helped him gain his skills. He credits his knowledge of the culinary world partly to cooking shows but mainly to his mom and grandma.

“I still call and ask them about a lot of stuff,” Hutchins said.

When Hutchins was 13, he decided he wanted to do something nice for his mother. He waited for his mom to get off work.

“Mom can I cook dinner? I want to give you a break,” Hutchins said.

His mother was surprised and said yes.

Hutchins had seen a video tutorial online and wanted to make his vision a reality. The first dish he prepared for his family was chicken bacon, ranch pasta.

“It came out pretty good,” Hutchins said. “She liked it. My brothers and sisters liked it. It was a pretty cool experience seeing them enjoy something I made.”

Hutchins was focused on sports during high school, but every now and then he would make his family a meal – usually barbecue or breakfast.

Hutchins began his college career and realized he was spending more than he preferred eating out. After moving into his first apartment, he noticed it was more cost efficient to cook at home.

“For the same amount of money spent at fast food, I could probably make me a meal to last me two days or so,” Hutchins said.

Having fun experimenting with new ingredients, Hutchins started cooking again more.

“At this point, it’s not even a necessity. It’s more of a hobby for me,” Hutchins said. “I’ve always dabbled in it here and there, but I really started taking it seriously once I was out on my own.”

Hutchins wasn’t the only one who enjoyed his cooking. When he was 19, his grandma asked him to cook a dish for a senior citizens’ daycare.

“My grandmom was like, ‘Hey your make really good mac n cheese, you know we really like your mac n cheese recipe, you mind making this for them?” Hutchins said.

The idea of cooking for older people worried him. He thought they would critique his food, but his grandma reassured him.

Hutchins served the macaroni n cheese and it was a hit. He was surprised by the seniors’ reactions.

“I saw their reactions to it and they were like, ‘Who made this?” Hutchins said. “I was like okay if I can get an older person’s stamp of approval, I gotta be good.”

Word about his skill spread through his church leading to Hutchins’ first time being paid for his service.

Some people from the church reached out to him. They asked if he would smoke chicken wings and make pasta dishes. Hutchins accepted the task.

“They really enjoyed it. I even had individual members message me and ask me to make them their own personal pan,” Hutchins said.

Before Hutchins joined his fraternity, the guys would just buy pizza. The main person who recruited Hutchins knew he could cook. After his frat brothers tried his food, they asked Hutchins to grill for events.

“During football games, I’m tailgating, I’m barbecuing,” Hutchins said. “They literally just call people over to try it.”

The people around him began to tell him he should start selling food. Hutchins didn’t think much about this until he was living on his own.

“I was like ouu I need more money,” Hutchins said. “So I was just like you know what? Let's try it.”

He began to soft launch his food business. Hutchins came up with the name: “Xzotic Flavors,” a word play with his name.

In September 2024, Xzotic Flavors had its first plate sale: Asparagus, Rolls, grilled corn, and pasta.

When Abria Turner found out about Xzotic’s plate sale, she had to try it.

“I immediately stopped everything I was doing and sent him my money,” Turner said.

The two met when they had class together. Turner, 20, is a Communication Studies major at USM. She said she didn’t even know he could cook but went on a whim and tried it because of his social media promotion. She paid $15.

Turner said the money was well worth it. She started dancing after taking her first bite.

“It brought so much joy and it made me feel happy, cause it had so much flavor!” Turner said.

For his first sale, Hutchins made $462 in profit. This was the first of eight sales.

He had one sale where he only broke even.

“That didn't really bother me cause that's part of attempting to run a business,” Hutchins said. “You're not gonna have a successful day every day.”

While deciding on the menu, Hutchins keeps in mind affordability. He prepares a sample, then posts it on social media to begin accepting pre-orders.

“Usually when he finishes a sale, they're like when's your next one, do you have food left over?” Turner said.

She was asked to make a review video for him.

“I would give it a 5-star rating and then I would say 20/20 fully recommend Xzotic Flavors all the way,” Turner said. “You better come get you a plate before I eat it all.”

Hutchins finds joy in cooking. He resonates it with a sense of community.

“People congregate over food, people come together,” Hutchins said. “They get to laugh, eat, smile, catch up with each other, and stuff.”

“It feels good to be able to say I prepared this dish, gave it to them, they trusted me with their tastebuds essentially and I didn’t let them down, they were satisfied with it and they wanted more,” Hutchins said.

A majority of Xzotic’s consumers are college students, people from church and residents of Hattiesburg. To keep up with Xzotic Flavors, their social media tag is @xzoticflavors.

One day Hutchins would like to turn Xzotic Flavors into a food truck. He loves being able to make people smile through flavor. For now, he’ll settle for finishing his senior year at USM while cooking meals for his community.