Jaquarius Thomas, 23, cleans off a grill at his home Saturday in West Point. Thomas, also known online as West Point’s “Burger Man” and a former West Point High School two-star defensive end, has expanded his business to serve between 10 and 15 events annually and volunteers with several mentorship programs in the area. Braden Simmons/Dispatch Staff/	
			Jaquarius Thomas remembers flipping burgers at the Cottrell Street Festival in 2024 and wondering if he had made a mistake.
Thomas had sunk all of the $1,500 he had in savings into a grill and a tent to make ends meet after dropping out of Itawamba Community College just a year earlier. Business had started off slow, but then a mother and her two children he had served came back to his tent to tell him he made a real difference for them that day.
“She came right back within maybe four or five minutes, and was like, ‘My sons, never eat all of their food,’” Thomas said. “‘They never eat a full burger, but they ate yours.’ … And she just started sending people. … So that started it. And after that, everybody was reaching out to me like, ‘Man, when are you setting up?’”
That interaction gave Thomas hope and sparked an idea that he could make a career out of his business. All he needed was the right marketing plan.
Thomas, 23, is also known online as “Burger Man,” a content creator and burger chef who cooks at more than a dozen events annually in Clay County.
In the last year, Thomas has expanded his business through increased social media branding and has also worked on several initiatives to mentor young men in the area.
Growing up, football was Thomas’ life. He played four years as a defensive end at West Point High School, helping anchor a defense that earned three championships from 2017 to 2021.
While in high school, Thomas also cooked and sold meals out of his parents’ home, which helped him to earn some spending money and gave him a clear vision for his future.
“I (saw) myself playing football through life, going to the NFL, and … having restaurants because I was going to use my NFL money … to start (several) restaurants,” Thomas said.
Thomas shined on the field his senior year with eight sacks and 72 tackles and was a two-star recruit, but he didn’t receive many offers to play in college. Thomas ended up accepting an offer to play for the ICC Indians. But after two seasons of juggling sports and classes got the better of him, he dropped out.
Thomas said that was when his life hit a low point. He worked odd jobs to make ends meet though none of them truly brought him joy.
But as had been his mantra up to that point on the gridiron and in life, Thomas put his head down and kept working to find a solution, which led to the birth of “Burger Man.”
Becoming ‘Burger Man’
Thomas sunk about two years into his business before it saw any real success. As it grew, he had an idea for developing a brand to help give himself an identity.
“The name actually came from a (regular) being funny, calling me ‘Burger Man,’” Thomas said. “But I actually took the name and ran with it.”
About a year ago, Thomas created a logo for his company that included himself in superhero attire, and he began posting short videos to promote his grill locations for the day and silly antics with customers, including creating a burger out of honey buns.
Those videos helped his business take off alongside efforts to book more events each year, including being a vendor at a June rally to curb gun violence-related incidents after three Clay County shootings.
The event inspired Thomas to create a mentorship program for high school-aged men while also working with children as a coach for the West Point Packers, a youth football team in the Mississippi Gridiron Youth League.

			
			
				
				Jaquarius Thomas, 23, blows a whistle Saturday while going through warm-ups with his team of players with the West Point Packers at Half Mile Park in West Point. Thomas, alongside being a coach for the Mississippi Gridiron Youth League football team, said he has also started a mentorship program with West Point High School earlier this month to help give young men ideas of career paths and to curb youth gun violence. Braden Simmons/Dispatch Staff
				
		

“West Point began to have just this big ole string of violence nonstop with (primarily) younger people younger than me (or) around my age … and I saw that, and I’m the type of person if I feel I can stop something, I (should do) something,” Thomas said.
His proposed mentorship program on his Facebook page caught the attention of Shameeka Deanes, associate principal for West Point High School North and one of Thomas’ former teachers. She asked him to host it with area high schoolers, and the group had its first meeting Sept. 14.
Deanes is excited to see the program expand. She always knew Thomas was going to be a leader in the community, she said.
“He has always been his own person,” Deanes said. “He has never been one to follow the crowd or want to fit in with others. From an early age, he knew who he was, and he accepted it. So he’s definitely not a follower (he is) a leader for sure. … It translated over to football, (and) it translated into his life now.”
			
						
						
			
      
      
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