And will even teach you how to roll and EGGROLL!

Thirty-five years ago, Cynthia Hanible Bell came up with her own spin on egg rolls – which became a hit among her five children, extended family, friends and neighbors.

Throughout her childhood, Belinda Beard, Hanible’s oldest daughter, would spend time in the kitchen by her mother’s side, learning all her recipes. The egg rolls, which were open-ended on one side and filled with ground turkey, had always been her favorite.

“She used a certain seasoning, and people would try to replicate it – but no one ever could. It’s been a family secret ever since,” said Beard. “My mom could cook anything, but she was known for her egg rolls.”

Hanible died in 1999, and Beard always knew she wanted to find a way to honor her mother and continue her legacy. So, after years of making the egg rolls with her sisters, Beard decided to make it a business in early 2020.

“Steve Jobs said, ‘Do not try to do everything. Do one thing well.’ I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, and that’s one thing I did really well – making those egg rolls. I can make egg rolls in my sleep; I can roll them with my eyes closed. I’ve been doing this since I was 10 years old,” she said.

During the day, Beard would work at her corporate job and then spend her nights making the egg rolls from her mother’s recipe. She added more flavors, like peach cobbler, cheeseburger, corn beef, crab rangoon, and vegan southwestern, and soon, her phone and social media were blowing up with people requesting orders.

“I didn’t know it was going to take off like this. The restaurants were all closed because of the pandemic, so cars would line up outside my Southfield home to pick up the egg rolls. It was all word of mouth, and it just kept growing,” she said.

Beard called her business EggRollDiva, after a nickname one of her friends gave her, and it’s become a family affair – with her brother, three sisters, cousins, nieces and nephews all jumping in anytime she needs help.

She earned her ServSafe Certification from Detroit Kitchen Connect, an Eastern Market Partnership program, and they helped her rent a commercial kitchen space in Dearborn. Then, about a year into starting the company, Beard bought a food truck, and last year, she was able to leave her job as an executive assistant to do this full-time.

“I spent my entire career working for the CEO, and then I decided – I can be my own boss. I can be the CEO,” she said. “I think my mom would be so proud. In Ypsilanti, she was known as ‘the lady with the egg rolls.’ I’m sure, if she was still alive, she would’ve opened a restaurant with egg rolls on the menu. So, I took her legacy, and turned it into a successful business. This is going to go big – and it’s all because of her.”

What’s Next for EggRollDiva
Beard is currently up for the national title of “Fave Chef,” presented by Food Network and Top Chef’s Carla Hall. The winner will take home $25,000 and be featured in Taste of Home Magazine. If she wins, Beard said she would use the money to expand her business and purchase a larger food truck. With the growth of EggRollDiva, Beard’s 7-foot-by-12-foot trailer just isn’t enough space anymore.

“I bought my first trailer off Facebook Marketplace in April 2021. My sister, brother-in-law, and their two kids came with me to pick it up from Ohio. Then we tore it apart and made it my own. Little did I know that I would need one almost double the size. But you have to start somewhere,” she said. “Now I need a trailer that’s a minimum of 18 feet. This would definitely help me get there.”

Beard will be teaching an Egg Roll Master Class at The Kitchen by Cooking with Que, 6529 Woodward Ave suite A, Detroit. She will be taking over local chef Quiana "Que" Broden’s kitchen, which was created to be a place where vegans and meat eaters coexist. Classes will be August 22nd and September 19th.

For more information about EggRollDiva, her upcoming events and her catering services, visit eggrolldiva.com. Follow her on social media at instagram.com/eggrolldiva and facebook.com/eggrolldiva. To sign up for Beard’s Egg Roll Master Class, visit thekitchenbycwq.com/classes