JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville father started a food truck during the COVID-19 pandemic to empower his daughter and teach her about business.

Since then, the business has been successful and the two have big plans for the future.

Father Ivory Orr has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years. He said he worked three jobs while he was in college. He quit two of them and got fired from the third.

“When I got fired from the last one, I promised myself that I would never work for anybody again,” Orr said.

He did that for almost two decades, and then the 2020 pandemic happened. The world shut down, but he knew he had to do something for his daughter and best friend, Maliyah Orr.

That’s when the idea of Bad Chic Chicken N’ Waffle was birthed.

Ivory said it was important for him to go on this adventure with his daughter because he didn’t have a relationship with his father.

“When that happens people either go two ways: They perpetuate the cycle, and they become bad fathers or absentee fathers, or they take fatherhood super serious,” Ivory said. “I’ve been blessed with a wonderful child, but it’s the most important thing in my life.”

The business started when Maliyah was 15 years old. She’s an adult in college now and the business is still going.

“There were some ups and downs, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world,” Ivory said. “The best part about this is that we get to spend time together all the time.”

Celebrity chef Chef Amadeus was Ivory’s wrestling high school coach. He helped him get the food truck started and worked with him on a few recipes. He said he was more than happy to help because of the bigger picture of the business.

“He’s training his daughter how to do things from the ground up, he’s put the business into her, he’s putting in the marketing and he’s mentoring her the right way,” Chef Amadeus said.

At their pop-up in the Murray Hill neighborhood, people lined up for items like the Cinnabon waffles with three chicken tenders fried to a golden crisp.

But other items draw regular customers like Turhan.

“I love to get the egg rolls. I love to stay away from the shrimp and the seafood, but I’ll get the egg rolls. Good old french fries, it’s always good,” he said.

The Rollin’ Laos Egg Rolls is something Maliyah is especially proud of because she’s also Asian.

“The business helps me grow and better that so I want to spread my [Laotian] culture,” Maliyah said “I got the rolls on the truck and I roll them myself.”

She said she’s proud of her dual cultural identity and how the business stands for women’s empowerment.

“We call the truck Bad Chic because the whole theme of this is women empowerment. I was raised by a bunch of strong women,” Ivory said.

He said they have the full support of the women in his family like his mother, grandmother, and aunts. He’s using the business to pay it forward.

Ivory said the ultimate goal is to grow the business from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar building, then into a chain, and then sell the chain within five years.

They hope the business model is replicable for others.

For now, Bad Chic Chicken and Waffle is in Murray Hill every Friday and Saturday from 4-8 p.m. You can also book them in advance for catering events.

Ivory said you may see them at festivals in Jacksonville.