How Derrick Hayes Turned Big Dave's Cheesesteaks Into An Empire - Exclusive Interview

Derrick Hayes knows what it's like to struggle. Growing up in poverty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he grappled with finding his purpose and instead landed on the wrong side of the law. But when his father was dying, Hayes promised him that he would start a business of his own — and he kept his word. Through sheer tenacity, Hayes kept going despite many people not wanting to take a chance on a first-time restaurant.

Thankfully, because of one Shell gas station owner that was willing to take a risk on him — combined with his delicious cheesesteak options and a lucky encounter with famous singer Eve — his brand grew. Today, Big Dave's Cheesesteaks has five locations in the greater Atlanta area and is projected to make a staggering $15-20 million in sales this year. In an exclusive interview, we talked to Hayes about where he learned to cook, why he decided to take his sandwiches outside of Philly, and what it's like working in the same realm as his wife, Slutty Vegan founder Pinky Cole.

How would you say growing up in West Philadelphia has influenced your own cooking style?

Growing up in West Philly was a big influence on a lot of things when it came to cooking because my city is big on food. We're big on quality tastes and seasonings. Growing up, I had the right to be around my grandfather, who, on Sundays ... If I didn't go to church with him, I had to finish [making] his Sunday dinner. That's how I actually learned how to cook indirectly, knowing that if I didn't go to church with my grandfather, the dinner was mine on Sundays to finish.

I did it for years, being around him, learning the different things between cooking, spices, and quality foods. I tell people all the time, "Sometimes we don't know that our purpose is right in front of us ... and we chase something else." That's what food has been for me. When my grandfather passed away, I started to understand that I learned so many different qualities and techniques from him, and now, the world loves it.

I was going to ask if you grew up watching family members create recipes in the kitchen, but it sounds like it was your grandfather.

Yeah. It was my grandfather who had me in the kitchen. He was a man that I never thought I could please. Everything was so hard, but I realized he was gearing me up because he knew that I was the one in the family that was standing on my 10 toes and [would] break the generational curses and continue to head on to honor our last name proudly. That's what I have been doing for some odd years, but it's been a fun journey. It's been a really interesting journey — a lot of roller coaster rides, because I never did business before. Big Dave's was the first company that I ever did in my life, and it wound up being a slam dunk.

Congratulations on the success of Big Dave's Cheesesteaks. What did it feel like to open a restaurant named after your father?

Thank you. It's amazing. I tell people all the time it hurts not having my father with me every single day in physical presence, but I know in spiritual presence, he's here. I get to hear people say, "Big Dave. Big Dave. Big Dave." It's like my father's alive again. Seeing my father take his last breath right in front of my face, I don't take that for granted at all. I always go as hard as I could possibly go to make his name live on and honor my family and my last name the right way.

But I think I've done a good job of explaining the story and everything that I've been through with my father, because my dad was like my best friend. He wasn't just a father. He was that father that was going to tell you right or wrong, but he also was going to lean with you on the wrong side, so you can understand that every wrong situation is not the end of the world. Sometimes failing is learning. You're learning in every situation, and that's what I always learned from my father. That's why I do so well with my brand now, because when obstacles come at me, I don't give up. I find another route and go around it or go over it because I learned that from him.

I read that you initially started your business in a 700-square-foot Shell gas station. Can you tell me more about what that time was like?

I had a broken grill and a broken fryer, and I made my dream happen on that. To give you a backstory on it — in 2014, I found this gas station in Dunwoody, Georgia. It was a Shell gas station, and there was a family who owned it. It was a guy named Mike who gave me an opportunity to rent out his space. Nobody wanted to rent me a space in Atlanta because I didn't have business experience, so no one wanted to take the risk with me.

Mike took the risk with me, and I was so happy the day I signed my lease, but then was so miserable the second week that I opened because I had no traffic. Nobody knew what water ice was. The first name I named it was Dave's Philly Water Ice, and I switched it to Big Dave's Cheesesteaks.

In 2015, going on 2016, the rapper Eve came to my location. They were shooting "Barbershop 2: Back in Business." She was from West Philly, just like I'm from West Philly. She heard that it was a real cheesesteak in Georgia. When she came, she came with a lot of people. I thought that when she came in there, she was going to be like, "Oh, let me get a couple cheesesteaks." She was like, "No, nobody's ordering until I taste it first."

I was on the grill making this chicken cheesesteak like my life depended on it because I was out of money. I had no traffic. I knew that this was my big break. As I'm chopping this sandwich, I'm like, "Listen, this all I got. I'm putting my all in this thing." When she bit [into] it, she went crazy. She put it on every social media platform that she had, that it was a real cheesesteak in Atlanta and a West Philly guy did it. I had lines that you couldn't imagine.

What made you want to make cheesesteaks in particular?

I was in a cheesesteak restaurant when I first moved to Atlanta, and I saw that they were putting out not quality [product]. They were putting out not a good name on Philly. It was almost like people didn't know what they were getting, and I was like, "This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to open up my own cheesesteak restaurant, and I'm going to show them how it's done. I already know how to cook, and that's how it is."

You have diverse menu options at your eateries, from classic beef cheesesteaks to chicken to a salmon version with banana peppers. Do any of them have a significant meaning for you?

I have a cheesesteak called the Dave's Way. That's the number one cheesesteak that I sell. I named that sandwich after my father. I wanted something to be powerful on my menu so that when people came into a restaurant, they would order in honor of my father. There are people that don't like onions and peppers or three cheese, and when they eat this sandwich, they don't even know it's in there. They love it so much. I have an award-winning egg roll — they're handmade, 100%. We roll about 12,000 every single week. People go crazy over them. We sell out.

What is your preferred cheese for a cheesesteak?

American. If you want to go traditional cheesesteak, I would do American cheese and fried onions. That's how we do it — fried onions, salt, pepper, and ketchup. That would be the Philly way.

What would be the beef that you use for a cheesesteak?

Ribeye. 100% ribeye.

Does the beef need any special marinating before it hits the grill?

Of course. It has the Big Dave's special seasoning. My seasoning is special because the same people that I mentioned to you when I was in a trap and didn't know what I wanted to do when it came to recipes and menu items ... I literally took a piece of every seasoning that I loved from my family and mixed it all together and made something magical.

Today, people are crazy over this seasoning. I have it bottled up now. We're about to go to market with it soon, so I can't wait. Right now, you can buy it at any of the Big Dave's locations and you can get it online.

It's a secret blend?

It's secret spices. It's called Big Dave's Cheesesteak Spice, but it's not just for cheesesteaks — you can cook it on any meal in your home. It's good on vegetables. It's good on seafood. It's good on chicken. It's good on beef. It's good on everything.

What makes your cheesesteak stand out from the competition? Would you say that it's that special seasoning?

It's the special seasoning and also because I know how a cheesesteak is truly made. Then we put our own twist on it ... We make it the authentic way. When you look at big brands in Philly, like Pat's and Geno's, we have surpassed all of the brands right now in Philly from brand recognition. Nobody is more nationally known right now than Big Dave's when it comes to cheesesteaks.

Are there any unconventional cheesesteak toppings you've tried that didn't work or that you were surprised by how well they worked with the sandwich?

We had a partnership with Flaming Hot Cheetos about two weeks ago. We did a movie with Warner Bros. — the movie was called "Flaming Hot," and they wanted us to make a hot sandwich. When we did this Hot Cheetos chicken cheesesteak, I'm like, "What is this?" but when I bit it, I'm like, "Holy s***, this is really good." We wound up putting it on the menu. Hopefully, you'll be hearing about a Cheetos and Big Dave's national partnership soon because the sandwich is selling.

You and your partner — Slutty Vegan founder Pinky Cole — are both powerhouses in the food world. What's it like to work in the same industry?

It's amazing. That helps our relationship out a whole lot, because I would probably get on somebody's nerves if I'm talking about the restaurant industry all day. But we're both scaling our brains. We think a lot. We both are community driven. We do a lot of things for the community. It is a big help because what one doesn't know, the other one can help. When one needs help, the other one can lean on [them], so it's a blessing. Pinky left the state before I did, [and] I was able to see what it looks like to leave the state. Now I know what to look toward for me. That's the blessing of everything.

On the other side of it, she's my best friend. She's like my shadow. She's somebody I know that thinks 100% like me. We don't get tired of each other. We're around each other every day, but we also know when we got to go buckle down and get into work mode with our brands, and that's what we do.

Would you ever want to combine your culinary talents and open something together?

A lot of people ask us that. We probably get asked that question at least 100 times a year. We actually did a brand that's called Dinkies — it is the menu for Bar Vegan. Me and Pinky have a bar together, and Dinkies is the food menu. We are, in the near future, looking to franchise Dinkies; Dinkies is the vegan concept of Big Dave's.

I saw that you both help run the Pinky Cole Foundation, The Derrick & David Hayes Foundation, and Square 1: The Liife Experience. Why is giving back so important?

When we met, we talked about so many community things that we were interested in doing, and she had the same type of heart I had. We both come from up North. She's from Baltimore, and I'm from Philly, so they're only about an hour and 45 [minutes] to two hours apart. We went through the same thing growing up, from seeing friends get murdered, or they need GoFundMes or fish fries to bury them. We started an initiative called the Square 1 Campaign, and Prudential partnered up with us, where they provided 25,000 life insurance policies if you made $30,000 a year or less in income [and] if you were an African American male. 

It was powerful, because somebody like me that has 47 tattoos on his body, who has been on the wrong side of the law before, who's got his life together, who owns multiple million-dollar businesses ... In America, they needed to see that. Sometimes we only can believe what we see, and when you see somebody that looks like you doing a different path ... I didn't go to college, but I stayed down to my guns and believed in what I could do. That was me starting with the community element of it. I have seen people that may look lost, but they never had the resources. I know what it's like to not have resources in your life to help change. Everybody's not a bad seed — they just don't know how to grow.

To buy Big Dave's Cheesesteaks' special spice blend or to find a location near you, you can visit www.bigdavesway.com.

This interview has been edited for clarity.