Community, family, love — those are the three words Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks CEO Derrick Hayes wants people to think of when they hear his name. Yes, he’s the founder of a multi-million-dollar brand, but he’s so much more than a successful businessman, he says.
“[I went from] not knowing entrepreneurship to being a top entrepreneur in the country,” Hayes says in an interview with AFROTECH — and his journey supports that.
The Rise Of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks
A Philadelphia native who became an Atlanta transplant, Hayes opened his first Big Dave’s — originally called Dave’s Philly Water Ice — in 2014 inside a gas station in Dunwoody, GA. While he always dreamed of success, he says his greatest motivation came from a promise he made to his late father, Derrick Hayes Sr.
“I just wanted to make him proud and honor something to him,” Hayes said. “So when I eventually built Big Dave’s, it was more so to prove to him that I can stand on my 10 toes and the words that I promised him. And then when I found my purpose through that, I started to translate [it] into a real operation.”…