Local mobile food business Kay’s Angel Wings has steadily earned a loyal following at its Highway 90 Boutte location, becoming a business operator Shunta Jackson says derives its name in honor of two of her closest family members she tragically lost early one December morning in 2012.
“[Kay’s Angel Wings] is actually named after my mom and my daughter; they passed in a house fire in 2012 in Killona,” Jackson, 35, said, with the name ‘Kay’ coming from a shortened, combined derivative of her mother’s and daughter’s names.
At the time of the incident, Jackson’s mother, Catherine Scott-Isaac, was 55, while her daughter Kamri was just three years old, both killed in a house fire investigators later said was caused by an electrical malfunction. Jackson’s mother was known locally as the owner of Scott’s Grocery Store, Killona’s sole grocer.
Jackson says she enjoyed experimenting and creating her own sauces while attending college at Jackson State University in Jackson, Miss., so much so that her sauce creations would later become the inspirational spark she eventually used to start Kay’s Angel Wings.
“How I came about going into the mobile food industry was pretty much the product that I was serving; all of that came about by me making a sauce,” Jackson said. “I just wanted to try it on different [foods], and wings happened to be one of them.”
The St. Charles Parish native said it wasn’t until college when she was formally introduced to wings, where it quickly became one of her favorite go-to foods. When her mother and daughter passed away unexpectedly in 2012, she and her brother made the decision to continue to operate her mother’s Killona store, giving Jackson the opportunity to begin serving locals her own sauced wings. She later branched out and purchased her own mobile food unit, establishing a location along the higher traffic route of Highway 90 in Boutte.
Kay’s Angel Wings currently features nine of Jackson’s different sauce creations, with her top three sellers being her ‘Only in Killona,’ Spicy Honey Garlic and Lemon Pepper sauces.
Jackson’s signature ‘Only in Killona’ flavor is “a sweet and spicy sauce with a hot sauce base,” she explained.
Jackson said while most wing restaurants often opt for a dry rub lemon pepper technique, her lemon pepper wing sauce relies on a “wet” recipe utilizing butter and her own spice combinations.
One of her favorite aspects of running a mobile food business is the direct feedback Jackson said she gets from her regular customers, feedback that also allows her to tailor new flavor combinations to her customers’ liking.
“You can engage with your customers more,” Jackson said of her mobile food business model. “I feel like when you run a mobile food business, the food is more authentic.”
Kay’s Angel Wings offers fries, various sides such as bacon, sausage, chicken and shrimp, and its Mama Signature Potato options, featuring choices like the ‘Basic Mama Potato,’ the ‘Noonie,’ the ‘Mama Judy’ or the ‘Coco,’ many coming with its own protein and add-on flavor combinations.
“All [of our Mama Signature Potatoes] starts off basic with cheese, bacon and peppers like the ‘Mama Judy,’ you can also get grilled shrimp or fried shrimp on top,” Jackson mentioned. “We have one called the ‘Chick Chick’ where we have cheese, bacon and peppers with fried shrimp and Veron sausage.”
Kay’s Angel Wings food trailer operation is situated at 1328 Highway 90 across the highway from Anita’s Burgers. She opens for business Monday thru Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and operates Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Customers can call or text orders ahead of time at 504-273-4730.
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