Chef Jaquese Jones is shown with Golden Batter Chicken, which she sells through Facebook Marketplace, in Houston on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
The Biscuit Flight of Praline, Peach Cobbler, Strawberry Shortcake and the OG biscuits, each served with its own signature honey butter, made by Chef Jaquese Jones, who sells her food through Facebook Marketplace, is shown in Houston on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
A Praline biscuit made by Chef Jaquese Jones, who sells her food through Facebook Marketplace, is shown in Houston on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
A Strawberry Shortcake biscuit made by Chef Jaquese Jones, who sells her food through Facebook Marketplace, is shown in Houston on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
Dining tables, mirrors, lamps — Jaquese Jones knew she could sell items like those on Facebook Marketplace.
She was surprised to discover she could sell her scratch-made fried chicken, too.
Golden batter chicken made by Chef Jaquese Jones, who sells her food through Facebook Marketplace, is shown in Houston on Wednesday, July 29, 2026.
Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle
These days, Houstonians are using the platform to buy their next meals: everything from birria pizza to garlic Parmesan crabs to oxtail bowls to candied grapes to sushi cakes. These foods, often cooked at home, have recently gone viral as people post their Marketplace food hauls on TikTok and Instagram.
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Local influencers such as @houstonsgotspice and @hungry_inhouston have hopped on the trend. So did Jordan Bentley, of Los Angeles-based account Jordan Bentley Eats; he accumulated more than 250,000 views on a 20-minute YouTube video about Facebook Marketplace’s food offerings in Houston.
“I got introduced to it because of the trend, and I was like, ‘Oh, this will probably get some good views,’” Bentley said. “And then I started seeing how it was really impacting people’s lives and helping their businesses.”
He sampled oxtails, jambalaya, lamb chops and a spicy seafood bowl, among other foods, highlighting the cooks in his video.
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With the cyclospora outbreak all over the news, Bentley said he thought briefly about food safety issues. But he doesn’t want to worry too much, especially since he feels like there’s a risk to eating out anywhere.
“You have some people who are like, ‘Oh, this is illegal,’” he said. “I’m just like, man, stop knocking people trying to make a living for themselves.”
The Houston Health Department did not respond to a request for comment on the trend. Many but not all Facebook Marketplace sellers make their food at home, and Texas law regulates what kinds of foods can be cooked and sold from a home kitchen. Meat is not allowed.
Jones, who cooks under the name Chef Jay, said she used to prepare her fried chicken and biscuits at home, but she just transitioned into a commercial kitchen on Westheimer. She’s hoping one day to grow from Facebook Marketplace to her own restaurant.
A peach cobbler biscuit and Flamez Golden Batter made by Houston chef Jaquese Jones, who sells her food on Facebook Marketplace.
A peach cobbler biscuit and Flamez Golden Batter made by Houston chef Jaquese Jones, who sells her food on Facebook Marketplace.
Nevertheless, she said, Marketplace has been enormously helpful for cooks who don’t have any resources to get off the ground. Jones featured in a Houston influencer’s video about Facebook Marketplace foods, and since then, she said people have messaged her “left and right” to order the same things.
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Jones isn’t afraid to sample other Marketplace finds, either. Recently, she picked up a box of tropical punch-flavored candied grapes: “fresh” and “so good,” she said. She wants to support other vendors in her shoes.
“We don’t have a chance, because we don’t have the resources that these big restaurants have,” she said. “We have to take matters into our own hands to be successful.”
Itaty Medrano, the owner of desserts business Treats by Taty, started out in a position like that. A stay-at-home mom, she began her business with chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine’s Day in 2022. Since then, she’s expanded into custom cakes and birthday treats, plus viral dot cakes, selling them through word of mouth or Facebook Marketplace.
The platform, Medrano thinks, is an easy, convenient and cheaper way to pick up food nearby. And though she herself hasn’t bought food there, she sees the appeal of the trend.
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“There are so many people that cannot afford to get a storefront,” she said. “So they start off at home, and they make really good stuff.”