Derrick Hayes founded Big Dave's Cheesesteaks in 2014 after leaving the postal service to be with his ailing father and fulfill his father’s wish that he start a business. The first location opened in a Shell gas station in Dunwoody, Georgia and the brand expanded to 12 locations across Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The chain sells $12 cheesesteaks at rapid volume, reporting a sandwich sold every 58 seconds. Hayes grew up in Philadelphia selling bean pies and newspapers, shoveling driveways, and working multiple hustles before launching the restaurant.
I was in survival mode my whole life, from being a kid to high school,
I was always a hustler. I was a serial entrepreneur even when I was younger.
When [I was] 12 years old, I was selling Philadelphia newspapers and bean pies...I would go to the suburban neighborhoods and shovel snow when there was no snow on the ground in Philly. I never liked to ask my parents for money. I always wanted to have my own, and [it] made me feel good about myself.
Collection
[
|
...
]