Myrtle Beach chef becomes SC Chef Ambassadors for 2026

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — Chef Jordan Heyd's Lekker Eats is a restaurant that's unique not only in name.

"Opening Lekker Eats was based off of the premise of me cooking healthy food due to my type one diabetes diagnosis," Heyd said. "It kind of just transpired into realizing that there's such a need for farm to table food, for clean ingredients, for transparency through what you're doing with food. So that is what our focus is here is clean food, good food, healthy ingredients, local ingredients."

The word lekker (pronounced "lack-uh") is South American for 'All is Good.' That's where Heyd did her culinary training, and she's been serving the goods at Lekker Eats in Myrtle Beach since 2021, with fresh fan favorites for breakfast, lunch and on-the-go.

"We're a completely from-scratch kitchen," Heyd said. "Down to our ketchup, our salad dressings, our acai smoothie bases, our smoothies, quite literally everything we make in-house...we take food like shrimp and grits or a smashburger, and we do it our way. We elevate it, and we use better ingredients, more whole ingredients, cleaner ingredients, and we make it just yummier. We like to say that, just because you eat healthy food doesn't have to taste healthy."

She's now taking that purpose statewide after being named one of three South Carolina Chef Ambassadors for 2026. The honor included a trip to the State Capitol last month, where she met Governor Henry McMaster.

"We get to go and cook at all of the food and wine festivals throughout the state, and then we will get to work with local farmers one-on-one...being able to kind of be a voice for them, as well as showcasing the kind of food that we cook and the food scene that we have in South Carolina."

She hopes the opportunity will allow her restaurant's farm-to-table concept to catch on more across the Palmetto State.

"It's not just a trend that people want to know what they're eating," she said. "I think it's very normal to want to know exactly what you're consuming, and so I think that transparency with restaurants and kitchens, not just with farmers, but with your customers as well, is incredibly important."

And of course, never forgetting about flavor.

"I just want to create a menu where people can sit down and do a happy dance after every bite."

Myrtle Beach chef becomes SC Chef Ambassadors for 2026

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