The CEO of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks grew up in “survival mode” selling newspapers and bean pies – now his channel sells a $ 12 every 58 second cheese

“I was in survival mode all my life, to be a child in high school,” explains Hayes Fortune. “I was always a scammer. I was a serial entrepreneur even when I was younger. ”

“When I was) 12 years old, I sold Philadelphia newspapers and bean pies … I went to the suburban neighborhoods and shoven snow when there was no snow on the ground in Philly. I never liked to ask myself money for my parents. I always wanted to have mine, and it did me good.”

Hayes is now far from his years of adolescence to shovel the aisles and his beginning of a career as a worker of the postal services. In 2014, the native of Philly finally continued his passion after his sick father wanted him to start his own business – so he opened the cheese of Big Dave, named after his late father, in a shell station in Dunwoody, in Georgia. Ten years later, the channel exploded in the United States with 12 locations and four new restaurants of restaurants completed in just four months of this year. Two of the Big Dave Hotspot locations in Atlanta reported about $ 1.1 million to 1.8 million net sales last year; And the chain sells a cheese, ranging from the basic sandwich from $ 11.99 to 46.99 specialty choice, every 58 seconds, with more than 1,500 of the emblematic sandwiches sold each day.

With 100% of Big Dave franchise owners identifying themselves as black or bipoc, Hayes pays money into poorly served communities, distributing his entrepreneurial spirit beyond the suburban sidewalks where he sold bean pies.

“As I could be an entrepreneur and (in) growth of this company, I learned that my gift does not even make money. My gift really gives people, ”explains Hayes. “I am able to lift people through my dream. I have 400 employees at the moment, and everyone has the opportunity to spread their wings inside Big Dave cheeses. ”

Leave the American postal service to continue the wish of your father

Even if Hayes embodied a business spirit from a young age, his first job after high school in Philadelphia was a classic from nine to five years. At the start of the twenty, the CEO worked for postal service, making a lot of money with health benefits. But everything changed when his father fell ill – he was fighting lung cancer and needed support in his recent years. The employer of Hayes would not let him take time to be by his side, so Hayes was forced to move away from his stable career.

“When I entered the postal service, I thought it would be the career work that I would likely withdraw,” said Hayes.

“I went to see my boss and I said:” Hey, I have been working here for almost four years, without ever taking a day off. I need time for my father so that I can be there with him. “… and my boss said to me:” I’m sorry, it’s the holidays, I can’t get you out. “I said,” Listen, I’m going to find another job, I’m not going to have another father. ”

Spending these last moments with Father would reshape both his personal life and his professional life forever. Not only was he resounding to see his father and the best friend die from the painful illness, but his father’s final wish also changed the trajectory of his entire career. Hayes said that he had promised his father that he would have something to show for his hard work. Five years later, the Big Dave cheese – named his father’s memory – was born in an old shell station.

“My father gave me principles and a moral that instilled me today … Regarding the great Dave cheeses, I always think of the way my father would do it. Because watching your father die in front of your face is something you will never forget, ”says Hayes. “I would not say that I was forced to this career, but it was something that I felt like I was necessary, and it was something that I had the impression of wanting to honor my father.”

Of the purchase of an abandoned shell gas station at the opening of 12 locations across the United States

In 2014, Hayes finally decided to make the wish of his father and put his business plan in action by opening his own joint. And he found the ideal place to do so: in a 700 square foot shell station in Atlanta, Georgia, near the place where some members of his family lived. Although the serial entrepreneur is now known for his cheeses, he has actually started throwing Italian ice cream.

“It’s called Dave’s Philly Water Ice. Nobody supported me – I thought that when I opened this company, I would have lines in the block. And people said to themselves, “Do you sell cups of water?” “, Recalls Hayes. “I tell my mother:” It won’t work. It worked in Philly, but they just don’t adapt us. My mom was like, “listen, do what you really wanted to do, put the steaks with cheese in there.” “”

Hayes quickly pivoted the restaurant to serve the emblematic philly sandwich: a bread bread stuffed with seasoned halal beef, onions, mushrooms, peppers and cheese. Despite the redesign of the menu, hungry customers still did not flood in his restaurant until a few years later, when the rapper, the actress and the Eve television host appeared in the store. The Philly-Native was in town to shoot a movie in Dramatic Comedy Barbershop: the following cutwant an authentic cheese. His support came over time.

“My ego, my pockets, my business, everything is disintegrated because I do not earn money. I have no people who support the brand. And then life taught me: “If you continue to run, something will happen,” says Hayes. “Later that week, she appeared … She has just published (on social networks), and it became viral. The next thing you know, I got lines from the service station-it was more traffic than I could manage.”

Success did not stop there. In 2018, Hayes was invited to represent Georgia during a sandwich competition in Alabama. Without prior experience of work in professional kitchens as a chef – he learned to have good food with his grandfather, to prepare meals on Sunday – the Hayes took seventh place and beat 1,500 trained professionals. At this stage, Hayes and its restaurant channel attracted more and more attention; The brand opened two georgia locations in 2020 and three inside the Mercedes Benz Stadium. In 2022, the flagship location of Big Dave in downtown Atlanta generated more than $ 2.3 million in income.

Even if thousands of cheese steaks are now stealing grids and in the hands of customers daily, Big Dave’s success of several million dollars was anything but meteoric. It took years of hard work and progressive victories so that the company stands where it is today – and Hayes would not have it otherwise.

“Everything in my career has stages, where I am lucky to say that I have not moved too fast and that I move too slowly,” explains Hayes. “I moved at a good pace.”