Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald, interviewed Derrick D. Hayes. The “Underdog Story”. Overcoming adverse beginnings to accomplish your dreams and make it in the world. This is the story that Big Dave Cheesesteaks’ founder Derrick Hayes shares as he guest stars on Money Making Conversations Master Class. Prepare to be uplifted with a tale of motivation and grit as Derrick recounts the decisions in his life that led him to become the man he is today and how he seeks to inspire those who come from backgrounds similar to his to stand up and do more for themselves. He has been featured on many magazine covers, including Essence Magazine. His vision for his restaurant, Big Dave's Cheesesteaks, began in 2014 as he aimed to merge his passion for community, food, and business. What started as a small water-ice shop in a 749 sq. ft Shell gas station in Dunwoody, Georgia 2016, has now augmented into the nationally known Big Dave's Cheesesteaks, a thriving cheesecake empire with store and mobile locations all across metro Atlanta. Hayes is also the founder of the David & Derrick Hayes Foundation & Co-Owner of the vegan cheesesteak concept "Dinkies" with Slutty Vegan ATL CEO & Vegan restaurant phenom Pinky Cole. In 2021, Hayes's passion for community & food landed him an illustrious spot as a Forbes 2021 Next 1000 Honoree. Let's discuss his journey into Big Dave's Cheesesteaks being "Bigger Than Food."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're about to make a change in your life
and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can
have because for the first time in your life, you'll
make a new decision that's going to be best for
you and not what somebody told you to do. And
that's when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making
Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host with Shan McDonald. Our theme
(00:22):
is there's no perfect time to start following your dreams.
I recognize that we all have different definitions of success.
For you and maybe the size of your HM. It's
time to stop reading other people's success stories to start
living your own keep winning. My guest today is Derek D. Hayes.
(00:43):
He was recently featured on the cover of Essence magazine
his vision for his restaurant, Big Dave's Cheesecake beginning twenty fourteen,
as he aimed to merge his passion for community food
and business. Well started as a small water ice shop
in seven half roughly seven hundred fifty square food gas
station and Donewoodie, Georgia. Since twenty sixteen has generated nationally
(01:05):
and on big days cheesecake. If you've not been there,
I recommend you go there. He's right down the street
from my business. My staff they need, they need to
have stock in these business that's how much they go. There.
A thriving cheesecake empire with store and mobile locations all
across Metro Atlanta. Hayes is also the founder of Dave
and Derek Hayes Foundation and co owner of vegan cheesecake
(01:26):
concept Dinkies with Sludy Vegan Atlanta CEO and vegan restaurant
phenom Pinky col In twenty twenty one. Hayes' passion for
community and food landing him an illustrious spot as a
Forbes twenty twenty one next one thousand on a rate.
Let's discuss this journey into Big Dave's Cheesecake, being a
community leader, being bigger than food. Please, welcome to Money
(01:47):
Making Conversations, Masterclass, Derek D. Hayes.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
How you doing, sir, I'm good man. Thank you so much,
mister Rashan McDonalds for having me. Man.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I appreciate you. Brother.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Hey Man, had I had to lay it out there
for you, Derek, because you don't Because now you did.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Man, that was good.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know sometimes hearing you know the stuff that you did.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know along the way it feels good.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know, ah, your heart wreak, you know somebody else innerness,
So it's always a blessing.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, the thing about it is you should be because
sometimes I have a segment I do a local show,
Must Show Syndicates, and I do it live every Tuesday.
I love to invite you on it, by the way,
on WCLK every Tuesday, and it's called a bragging segment,
and I encourage people to call in and talk about
what they've done. Because we tend to be too humble
about our business. I always encourage people to remind them that,
(02:33):
you know, McDonald brags for brags, and we need to
brag about what we do. So everything that you have
accomplished is part of your success story. Is not what
we see when we get that sandwich because that cheesecake sandwich,
because what happens was there's a journey to get there.
So how did I hear the date twenty fourteen? I
hear the small gas station. I hear seven hundred and
(02:55):
fifty square feet, which is the size of my apartment
in college. So I know what that feels like. So
talk to us about it because obviously there was a
walk kid, there wasn't a sit down diner. Tell us
about the whole concept of what you have turned into
an empire so far and it's growing.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, well, first I want to start off with saying
the mission and you know, and an honor was my father,
you know, that was everything.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
That the reason why I built big days.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
He passed away from lung cancer in two thousand and nine,
and my dad dying wish was for me to you know,
stand on my own ten toes and change my generational patterns.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And you know, not to get in trouble.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And you know, he worked his whole life and he
thought he left a lot behind and he didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So I was able to see.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
A blue collar work of my whole life and now
transpiring to me building my brain and honor and my father.
It was it was you know a lot of hard work,
but it was something that my mission and my passion
what I really wanted to do because just think about it,
a lot of people build.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Brands just for money.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You know, I built this for a purpose of really,
you know, believing in my father, you know, his dreams
and where he wanted before he left their So it
actually helped me and tricked me into one and more
out of my own self. So when I built big days,
I didn't know anything about business. I didn't know how
to you know, pay sales and use text. I didn't
know anything about you know, getting ADP. I didn't know
(04:18):
anything about food costs.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
All I wanted to do was.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Better my life and you know, get out of situations
I was in at the time. But in the midst
of all of this, I was able to start in
a small gas station because nobody went to rent me
in space out you know, I'm going all over Atlanta.
I'm saying, you know, I got the money, you know,
I you know I need that, you know, need the space,
and everybody's like, you know, but you don't have the
business experience. It only took me this one shot. I
(04:43):
always learned this in life. One shot can change your
life forever. And that gas station was my shot because
that Indian guy rented me that space. And you know,
I had no business experience, and I was able to
make that nationally known. You know, in seven years of
my hard work. Now along the way, I had a
lot of roller coaster rise. You know, I got taken
advantage of a lot by contractors, even you know, employees,
(05:05):
you know, because I had a you know, soft heart,
you know, you know, I wanted to see everybody grow
at the time. But it built my tough skin along
the way because I had to understand for me to
scale this business, I had to become a real entrepreneur.
So I started really, you know, doing my Google university,
my YouTube university. I'm learning, you know, how to really
you know, do these things. And so I don't get
taken advantage of it because I didn't finish school. You know,
(05:28):
I got a high school diploma, but I don't, you know,
I didn't finish college. So and I got forty some
tattoos on my body, so I don't look like the
average CEO. So when people look at me, you know,
I got to come on my things together so they
could take me serious. And the way I did that
was to build multiple successful businesses along the way throughout
the years.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Now, when you show this gas station, there's a gas
station seven hundred and fifties roughly, they said, you said
seven forty nine. I'm just gonna say, se get one
more square for seven fifty seven fifth square free. Why
at what area of town was they done witty, But
what area of doun witty? And why did you think?
What did you have to bring it? Because this is
a gas station. Now you're cooking in the gas station.
So talk about that setup and then being able to
(06:08):
sell the concept to the community and to your friends,
because the friends really is a hard sale because they
going to tell you it's not a smart idea.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
So that's how.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I actually wounded up in the kitchen cooking myself because
I tried to get a cook of cheese steak.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And my friends was like, nah, it's not home.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
And not to mention, I am in this little gas
station with one grill and one fryar and it's all electric.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
You know. I don't know if a lot of people know.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Cooking on electricity and cooking on gas is totally different
because the grill goes in and out.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
You know, temperature is different.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
When you pick cold no items on there, you lose temperature.
So I had to actually learn how to cook on
these disadvantage you know, equipment that I had, and then
I was cooking on used the equipment. At the same time.
I had no employees at the time. It's just me
being a cashier. The cook accounting inventory, anything that I
(07:03):
had to do to make it because I wanted to
be successful in a way I had to do that
was put myself in all these situations.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
To be able to you know, work hard to do
that myself.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Because I didn't have the money at the time to
to you know, give people to help me. Because at
the end of the day, I blew my money, you know,
and I spent my last you know, building Big Dave.
So I really had to get it out the mud.
So I would say that self belief is more than
anything that I had to do along the way, is
believing in myself. If you don't believe in yourself, there's
(07:32):
no way that you can get somebody else to believe
in you. So when I started believing in myself more,
I started to get you know, a little bit of traffic.
And to be honest, man, I tell everybody, Eve the rapper,
Eve Man, she was a big play, you know, a
big part of my story because in the midst of me,
you know, going through this year and now open, I
don't have no traffic.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Still I'm going under. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Of course, if you can't pay the bills, eventually you're
gonna have to shut them doors and she posted me
on her social network.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Man, I made a chicken cheese steak for her.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Man right, and you know, so I did? You I
did because rapper, you famous, you know, great following, so
loyal following first of all. And so where were you
at for that connection to make? Did you know her?
Or she found out about your fusion recommended your food?
Tell me about that stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I was a friend. It was a friend.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It was a friend, friend of a friend, and she
was shooting barbershop.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You know, she was shooting the movie.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I waited all day for her to come, like
a kid on Christmas, I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
She ain't come.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Man, you know, you know I ain't get discoveraged that.
I said, you know, I'm gonna keep on fighting. And
the next day she really came. And as I was
making this chicken cheese steak. You know what she told me,
She said, if this sandwich is good, I'm gonna post
it on my social media networks.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Now you gotta think about it. I'm a kid from Philly,
I'm all my red sizes. I exhausted everything and now.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I'm like ship my life depends on is I gotta
make the.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Sandwich the best I can make it. And when I
made this sandwich, she bit it.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
She went't crazy, she said, oh man, you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Brung me home.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And she put it on every social media outlet she
had at the time. And when I tell you, the
next day, I made five thousand dollars. That was my
biggest day ever at the time. And it was just
up from there. I started to be able to get
the community more involved because they seem traffic. You know,
people eat off of their eyes. You know, they see lines,
they say, well, got to be good. So I was
(09:24):
able to start building lines. And then the next part
of my journey that was a very big part of
my mission, was in twenty eighteen, I was picked to
go to a sandwich competition and Orange Beach, Alabama, and
I ranked number seventh in the world.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Okay, Orange Beach, Alabama sandwich competition. Okay, now this ain't
New York.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
This ain't that like, You're not even Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You a Orange Beach, Alabama sandwich competition. So see, that's
what I love about you. You know, you tell this story.
It is so normal to you. But Orange Beach, Alaba,
I don't think going to orangeby, Alabama gonna do anything
for anybody, but tell us about this competition and why
it was important to go.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So so it was important to go because, for one,
I wanted to represent that not only had the best
cheese steak, but I wanted to have the best sandwich.
And honestly, it was an opportunity for me. You know,
I was hungry, you know, I had to fire in
my belly for success. I was waiting for my moment,
and when I got picked, I was ready for it.
But to be honest, when I got there, you know,
(10:28):
it was a little discussion because I was cooking on
a barbecue grill. Now, mind you, how do you make
a cheese steak on a barbecue grill because they don't
have flat tops. So what I had to do. I
went to Walmart and got a skill it and like
a flat top, and I put it over that gas
grill and I got that thing hot and I made
them cheese steaks, just like I was at Big Days.
You know, I took my obscoles and I pivoted, because
(10:51):
that's the thing. When you don't pivot when stuff happened,
you're gonna sink, You're gonna give up. You know, I'm
already at disadvantage, you know, to Americans. I'm a black
man to come from the ghetto, so I was supposed
to be here anyway, sure, you know. So the way
I was looking at it was, this is my opportunity
to make some noise for me and my people, to
show that I deserve to be here.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And when they.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Show what I'm saying when you say that in the
diversity at this competition was not much, when you make
a staatemle.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I can't I can't count on my my fingers how
many black people in this competition. And it probably was
maybe fifteen thousand, you know, could have been could have
been a little less, a little bit more, I'm not sure,
but I know that it was a good amount of people,
know that's trying to qualify for this, for this cooking competition.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And honestly, I never forget.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I gave Bo Jackson a Dave's Way, and I said,
I know I had a big shot because I knew
I was.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Making this sandwich.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
But you know, all of my grind, my blood, sweat
and terrace, all these years of me working, I said,
I ain't come here to lose, man, you know, I
came here to show out and show on.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
And honestly, and they called Derrick Hayes.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
They said, you know, top qualifiers, top ten in the world.
And when they called me, I was talking to somebody
because we was in this big facility, right and I
was looking at them like they just called my name.
And it was mind blowing because at the end of
the day, you want to win, you want to get
to the mountain top, you want to get there. But
when they really call you a name, all your years
(12:23):
of your heart.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Work and everything you've been through start to pan out.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
And honestly, it was emotional for me because again, just
like you said, it was an Orange Beach, Alabama, and
me as a black man, winning anything at Orange Beach, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Was a win for me on a barbecue grill on
a barbecue grill on a barbecue was skill it for
Walmart exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, That's how a lot of myo a lot
of my journey was built off of blood, sweat and
tears and getting it out the mud for real, because
I wanted people to see a real, authentic side of
what I was building. I don't want people to, you know,
see that anything that was given because I wanted them
to see that if the reason verses with short and
they looking at me, they can do it too.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan MacDonald.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Well, the beauty of this conversation that I'm having with
you is that I know that establishing your brand because
setbacks are part of your growth. Now, in twenty twenty,
we all faced the pandemic and at that point we
didn't know what to do, and so you used the
word pivot early in your conversation, the word pivot, which
I think is really important this conversation. When we talked
to young entrepreneurs who have a goal set in place,
(13:40):
this is how I'm going to do it, and sometimes
when something interrupts that goal, they frustration sets in or
they throw their hands up. When COVID the country was
set down, how did you react to that and did
you have a game plan?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Dave, I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna say this in
the most humblest way. My life was a pitvot. I
come from West Philadelphia. I come from the jungle. I
come from Atlanta opportunity if you want it, because you
got to go get it. So when this happened in
this pandemic, of course, nobody had ever seen this tragedy
happened in the world like this, But I knew the
(14:13):
city I came from taught me how to pivot, So
I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Going to quit.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I was going to find out a way to help
people while I was helping my brand be able to
grow at the same time.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
In a way I was able to do that was
I was.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Able to give a thousand plus meals to the community
because those same people that was going through those hard times.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Were the same people standing in my lines.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And then I wanted to help the healthcare workers, those
frontline workers.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Those were the.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Same people that was patting their life on the line
every day for people that had COVID, and we didn't
really know how dangerous COVID was at the time, so.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Those people I wanted to help.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I fed forty plus hospitals in a month of COVID
the first month. You know, really, no, we didn't know
what was going on, and I put my life on
the line just as well going to those hospitals because
I believed that it was a bigger purpose that they
seen an entrepreneur, a young black kid that come from
the ghetto standing up. Some other people would stand up,
and then we will all stand.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Up together, and we were reunite.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
And being able to get our communities back together in downtown.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I was able to help out.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I donated twenty six thousand dollars to help businesses get
back open. So for me, it wasn't about making the
money in the pandemic pandemic, it was about helping others
get their doors back open, so that people could see
what type of person I was and what I stand from,
what I represent, and what I wanted out of my
own self. If you can look through a vision of me,
you can look through the vision of the community.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And we can grow together. And that's what I was
trying to do.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Well, you did it, and because you were recognized by
four twenty one, next one thousand on the red now again,
you know it goes back to Alabama. You know you
got that, you're in a tent. You know they call
your name. Didn't know that was going to happen. You shocked.
Now you're doing all this great work for the community.
You know, like you said, Now, one part in your
conversation where you're talking about selling, you're talking about uplifting, giving,
(15:57):
giving given twenty six thousand, there thousand sandwiches there. All
about the drive is if I give, then they show support.
It creates loyalty. That's a business model that corporations do
all the time, and that comes from service. Now, service
drives your business. Customer service is a high priority as
far as how you communicate with your with your customer base.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Correct, yes, yes, but I think I think with me,
with me, sir, I think with me is people see, yes, sir,
that I'm real. They see the authentic side of it,
like I'm not stripted.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
You know, I show my flaws.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I show my my my ups and down so that
you don't make the same mistakes that I made.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I'm not selling you food.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I'm selling you hope and I'm selling you a dream
a kid like me believing and want to make a change.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And when they see that, they put.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
The food to the side for a second. They know
I make good food. Everybody loves my food, but they
also love the passion and the story that I'm putting
out because it's so many.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Other people out here in the world that need that help.
You think about it. It could be a young kid that
looked just like me thirty four years old. He might
be in the hood trying to get out of not
being no, selling drugs or a bad situation.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
He can go ahead and punch on Instagram and look
at me and say, listen, I know this kid came
from the same thing I came from. I could do
it too. That's bigger than me than any money. That's
the biggest thing for me. You know. I could be
walking in the market and somebody will walk up to
me and say, hey, man, you don't even understand.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
You saved my life. You made me want to change.
You made me want more out of myself.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And I used the food to be able to step
and stone and trigger that. I was told this once
upon in my life. My eye was bad on cancer
in two thousand and five. My name was Teresa Hennigan.
She eventually passed away, but in the middle of this
I went to a church with her and a pastor.
He told me in my ear, he said, you're going
to be a pastor.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
At the time, I'm playing basketball, I had who dreams
to make it to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I said, I'm not going to be no pastor. A
pastor is not about getting on a poor pit. It's
about spreading the message. It's about giving a message so
other people could receive. And right now, every day I
spread the message.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
When these people out here seeing big day build these
two locations, young black kid comes from the ghetto, bill
multi million dollar companies left and right right now, they
get motivated by that. So for me, that's the biggest motivation.
For me.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It ain't about the money. It's about the motivation for
my people.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Well, you know the interesting thing about it. You know
when I saw you on the cover of Essence. You
know usually you know when you on the cover of Essence,
you know, you interest Ailblew. You know what I'm saying,
you know, Michael B. Jordan, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
That's man, that's the legendary. Go go go, go go.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
That's it. Nice smiling y'all, y'all, y'all all the y'all.
I gotta tell you he's straightened up a little bit
when I started talking about being on the cover of
Essence because Essence, like you know, because I'm older than you.
That's the you know, that's Ebony back in my day.
That's Jet magazine back in my day. You know, you
saw that you left that on the coffee table. Wouldn't
happen because you know, that was an announcement about your brand.
(18:51):
But it's even a bigger announcement for you because it
wasn't entertainment driven your parent on there. It was about
you as a person, what you do for the community,
and you being able to step out. Like you talk
about your background, you come from humble beginnings, you come
from Philadelphia, you come from a neighborhood like I came
from a neighborhood where people stereotype your success. You know,
(19:11):
you know exactly you driving that neighborhood. Then people will
question why you come out how exactly it's like you
you lucky?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
You turns like that you don't like you don't belong here,
like you like you ain't deserve it. And I think, see,
and that's what I'm trying to teach too. You know,
I was asked this question yesterday. I was having a
conversation and they said, why do you think our culture,
you know, handle things differently?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And the reason what that being is just imagine if you.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Was a kid on Christmas, right right, everybody got this toy,
but this one kid got the best toy that everybody wanted.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
That if that kid never.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Was taught how to share that toy, because he never
had the resources to feel good about having anything that
feel good, then how can that kid ever know he's
going wrong? When you in an environment of everything a
certain way, that's what you're accustomed to.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Now, what I'm trying to show different is.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Okay, we step out of these boundaries of these inner cities,
these lower income communities, and now we got social media
outlets showing us when it's right from wrong.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
But the leaders that.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Got the voice got to help out and say, listen,
now that we got the ball in our hands, let's.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Stick together and change these communities out and give resources.
Let's build community.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Centers, centers, Let's build financial literacy program so that when.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Kids get to high school and when they about.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
To get out of high school, they ain't lost on
about a credit card or or how they going to
do their financial literacy, or how they're going to get
through college. They know that spending over thirty percent on
their credit card going to mess they credit up before
the bill cycle hit, they know that they can now you.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Know, utilize their capital before.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
That bill cycle hit so that now they're not getting
pittllized for interest.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
So they rotating this money making money.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
They know how to get cash back cash rewards cards
when they spending money to put it in they savings
account when it earns enough money to now move the
money and it's free money off of spending money. But
we can't teach that when know that, and all we
can know is what's going on in these communities to survive.
Like I said, where I come from at in Philly,
I was born to just survive and my day of
(21:08):
living it was my dead survival. I ain't thinking about tomorrow.
So I'm trying to teach my generation. Now let's worry
about tomorrow. Because when you've got kids, you got to
lead them set up for when you ain't here, you
got to take care of them from the grave.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
You know what I'm saying. That's why we're doing as
a life insurance initiative right now.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Wow, you know I love as we progress through this interview, Derek,
how your energy, your comfort zone with me has just
picked up and keep transferring to an even more positive level.
But the number one thing when I talk about and
I meet individuals like you because you're a self made person.
Like I said, you're not a shame of your journey
now because at the beginning I always talk about friends, family,
(21:46):
and don't let anybody stop you from living your dream
and stop you from planning your dream. Okay, when you
talk about the community and the next step, what is
Big Dave's future, how do you how do you conceptualize?
And because you know it, ain't you no more than
seven hundred and fifty square foot shell gas station by yourself.
You have to put a team around you. What does
that team look like? So our team, so our listeners
(22:09):
and our viewers can understand. When you grow, grow has
to be surrounded by quality. You have to spend money
to keep that quality around you in order to you
dream to grow.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I like this topic right here because a lot of people,
you know, they might tell me I'm too top heavy
with the locations that I have. But the thing is,
if you ain't, if you ready, you ain't got.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
To get ready. You know when that moment happened.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
So in the midst of in the midst of everything
that I'm done with my brand, you know, I just
want for me, like philanthropy is a big thing for me,
you know, building this brand, I love it just as
much as I love, you know, the restaurant space. I
love talking to people because, for one, I know that
I'm giving them real game that I've been through on
(22:54):
my life to help them change theirs. No, I don't
think I know everything, but me at thirty four years old,
I was blessing a lot of ways that you know,
a lot of people may not have got to yet,
and I can now help them when they get to
the situation in their life they're not making those same
mistakes I made. Let me tell you something, Mistakes costs
in the business. Right when you're in business.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Mistakes cost. It costs.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
When I mean it costs, it's more than money. It
hurts you in the finance side. But scaling the business,
you need it cro to be good. The COO to
be good, your gms to be good, your assistant managers
to be good, your fry.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Cooks, your grill cooks.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Everybody is a motor that works together to operate this vehicle.
And without that you can't scale. And it took me
years to really be able to get that together because,
like I said, I love Hardt, so I see the
best out of people, sometimes down seeing themselves. But I
was also told this by multiple different billionaires, and this
was my blessing.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
You know, you're never.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Going to scale if you don't get thick skin to
be able to do it, because these same people aren't
gonna be with you. The ones that belong what you're
gonna be with you because they want.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
To better themselves along the journey.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
But the ones who just tagging along and the business
is growing and they're not growing, you know, you're gonna
eventually have to leave them or the business is gonna
leave you.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
And if the business leave the CEO, you.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Know what happens after that, It goes it goes down
to dream right, And and that's what I'm not building.
Like I told you, this a high this to my father.
I know in the end of this, I'm a building.
I'm building a billion oile of business. I'ma have big
days everywhere, and I want to keep on setting a
bar high and setting the culture and what I got
going on outside of you know, just the Big Daves brand.
(24:36):
You know, me and Pinky we jumped in real estate
heavy and the reason why we're doing that is because
we're trying to build up these communities. So when stuff
ain't looking right in these communities, what's better to say
it is it's people that look just like the people
that's from these communities building them up, and they ain't
developers tearing them up and moving them out. You know
what I'm saying, right, We're gonna keep them. We're gonna
keep them in, We're gonna give them jobs. And the
(24:58):
way we're gonna do that is all these companies we build.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I love it, you know. Some Like I said, I'm
right down the street from your location over there, Brand Mark,
I'm right now, that's where you're at. I'm right down
the street from that. And so so my staff supports it.
First of all, A George, they talk to you, your passion,
your information, you gift man, your gift and a blessing.
(25:22):
You're an entrepreneurial spirit. You are what America is built on,
a land of opportunity. You know, we should never be
denied based on the color of our skin or the
education that people perceive we don't have. You are the
person that I bring on the show to educate my
audience that anything is possible, and I want to thank
you for coming out. Money Making Conversation master Class.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Thank you man, and I thank you for having me.
And I want to I want to release one more thing. Okay,
people listening. So it's not about how you start. It's
not about what's going to happen in the middle of
that race. Shoe get untied, your soul gett messed up,
you sneak and fall off.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Just finish the race.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Don't worry about the place you're going to be in
because as long as you finish the race, the job
is done.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
And when the job is done, guess what you can
say at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I finished the marathon because I wasn't worrying about the race.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You know what I'm saying. So the end of it all,
you gave it all you got.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
As long as you give it all you got, and
you finished that line, as long as you cross it.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Be proud of yourself and your journey, and.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Stop siusing yourself up to other people, because God got
everybody's journey for themselves to be able to better other people.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
You don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
It may feel like that man or that woman got
that success overnight, but you don't know what they've been through.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
To get that success. Absolutely, it's not attract me as
a marathon. So I always remember that.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I love it because I always tell people that, you know,
don't look at it. So it's saying, don't look at
somebody else's y'all. You know, you don't have to explain
the word I finished versus I quit. I quit, You
have to explain it. I finished me and I made
maximum effort to get the job done. That's all you're saying.
And I love it. Brother. We're going to talk in
person because I want to sit down and just chat
(26:59):
with you. I appreciate your time, man, because you're a
special Again. I've had Pinky on the show. Both of
y'all are special. But congratulations. You know, mister Andrewes Evil
Big Days Cheesecake. You know, mister sexy, mister sexy, mister
good looking, got the t fall out there. You know,
forty three tattoos straight out of Philly.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Big Day. Jeez Dak, keep doing your thing. I see
you be in the kitchen whipping up your jeez steak man.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I love it, man, Stay strong, bro, Big Days Cheez
steak Man.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Thank you man.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
All right, we talked soon. If you want to hear
us see any of my interviews oh money Making Conversation,
Please go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with
Sean McDonald. I am your host.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Thank you for joining us for this edition of money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with through Sean
McDonald is produced by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More
information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
thirty eight to fifteen media dot com. And always remember
to lead with your gifts
If you're about to make a change in your life
and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can
have because for the first time in your life, you'll
make a new decision that's going to be best for
you and not what somebody told you to do. And
that's when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making
Conversation Masterclass. I'm your host with Shan McDonald. Our theme
(00:22):
is there's no perfect time to start following your dreams.
I recognize that we all have different definitions of success.
For you and maybe the size of your HM. It's
time to stop reading other people's success stories to start
living your own keep winning. My guest today is Derek D. Hayes.
(00:43):
He was recently featured on the cover of Essence magazine
his vision for his restaurant, Big Dave's Cheesecake beginning twenty fourteen,
as he aimed to merge his passion for community food
and business. Well started as a small water ice shop
in seven half roughly seven hundred fifty square food gas
station and Donewoodie, Georgia. Since twenty sixteen has generated nationally
(01:05):
and on big days cheesecake. If you've not been there,
I recommend you go there. He's right down the street
from my business. My staff they need, they need to
have stock in these business that's how much they go. There.
A thriving cheesecake empire with store and mobile locations all
across Metro Atlanta. Hayes is also the founder of Dave
and Derek Hayes Foundation and co owner of vegan cheesecake
(01:26):
concept Dinkies with Sludy Vegan Atlanta CEO and vegan restaurant
phenom Pinky col In twenty twenty one. Hayes' passion for
community and food landing him an illustrious spot as a
Forbes twenty twenty one next one thousand on a rate.
Let's discuss this journey into Big Dave's Cheesecake, being a
community leader, being bigger than food. Please, welcome to Money
(01:47):
Making Conversations, Masterclass, Derek D. Hayes.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
How you doing, sir, I'm good man. Thank you so much,
mister Rashan McDonalds for having me. Man.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
I appreciate you. Brother.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Hey Man, had I had to lay it out there
for you, Derek, because you don't Because now you did.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Man, that was good.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
You know sometimes hearing you know the stuff that you did.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
You know along the way it feels good.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You know, ah, your heart wreak, you know somebody else innerness,
So it's always a blessing.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, the thing about it is you should be because
sometimes I have a segment I do a local show,
Must Show Syndicates, and I do it live every Tuesday.
I love to invite you on it, by the way,
on WCLK every Tuesday, and it's called a bragging segment,
and I encourage people to call in and talk about
what they've done. Because we tend to be too humble
about our business. I always encourage people to remind them that,
(02:33):
you know, McDonald brags for brags, and we need to
brag about what we do. So everything that you have
accomplished is part of your success story. Is not what
we see when we get that sandwich because that cheesecake sandwich,
because what happens was there's a journey to get there.
So how did I hear the date twenty fourteen? I
hear the small gas station. I hear seven hundred and
(02:55):
fifty square feet, which is the size of my apartment
in college. So I know what that feels like. So
talk to us about it because obviously there was a
walk kid, there wasn't a sit down diner. Tell us
about the whole concept of what you have turned into
an empire so far and it's growing.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Well, well, first I want to start off with saying
the mission and you know, and an honor was my father,
you know, that was everything.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
That the reason why I built big days.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
He passed away from lung cancer in two thousand and nine,
and my dad dying wish was for me to you know,
stand on my own ten toes and change my generational patterns.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
And you know, not to get in trouble.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
And you know, he worked his whole life and he
thought he left a lot behind and he didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
So I was able to see.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
A blue collar work of my whole life and now
transpiring to me building my brain and honor and my father.
It was it was you know a lot of hard work,
but it was something that my mission and my passion
what I really wanted to do because just think about it,
a lot of people build.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Brands just for money.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
You know, I built this for a purpose of really,
you know, believing in my father, you know, his dreams
and where he wanted before he left their So it
actually helped me and tricked me into one and more
out of my own self. So when I built big days,
I didn't know anything about business. I didn't know how
to you know, pay sales and use text. I didn't
know anything about you know, getting ADP. I didn't know
(04:18):
anything about food costs.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
All I wanted to do was.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Better my life and you know, get out of situations
I was in at the time. But in the midst
of all of this, I was able to start in
a small gas station because nobody went to rent me
in space out you know, I'm going all over Atlanta.
I'm saying, you know, I got the money, you know,
I you know I need that, you know, need the space,
and everybody's like, you know, but you don't have the
business experience. It only took me this one shot. I
(04:43):
always learned this in life. One shot can change your
life forever. And that gas station was my shot because
that Indian guy rented me that space. And you know,
I had no business experience, and I was able to
make that nationally known. You know, in seven years of
my hard work. Now along the way, I had a
lot of roller coaster rise. You know, I got taken
advantage of a lot by contractors, even you know, employees,
(05:05):
you know, because I had a you know, soft heart,
you know, you know, I wanted to see everybody grow
at the time. But it built my tough skin along
the way because I had to understand for me to
scale this business, I had to become a real entrepreneur.
So I started really, you know, doing my Google university,
my YouTube university. I'm learning, you know, how to really
you know, do these things. And so I don't get
taken advantage of it because I didn't finish school. You know,
(05:28):
I got a high school diploma, but I don't, you know,
I didn't finish college. So and I got forty some
tattoos on my body, so I don't look like the
average CEO. So when people look at me, you know,
I got to come on my things together so they
could take me serious. And the way I did that
was to build multiple successful businesses along the way throughout
the years.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Now, when you show this gas station, there's a gas
station seven hundred and fifties roughly, they said, you said
seven forty nine. I'm just gonna say, se get one
more square for seven fifty seven fifth square free. Why
at what area of town was they done witty, But
what area of doun witty? And why did you think?
What did you have to bring it? Because this is
a gas station. Now you're cooking in the gas station.
So talk about that setup and then being able to
(06:08):
sell the concept to the community and to your friends,
because the friends really is a hard sale because they
going to tell you it's not a smart idea.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
So that's how.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
I actually wounded up in the kitchen cooking myself because
I tried to get a cook of cheese steak.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And my friends was like, nah, it's not home.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
And not to mention, I am in this little gas
station with one grill and one fryar and it's all electric.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
You know. I don't know if a lot of people know.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Cooking on electricity and cooking on gas is totally different
because the grill goes in and out.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
You know, temperature is different.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
When you pick cold no items on there, you lose temperature.
So I had to actually learn how to cook on
these disadvantage you know, equipment that I had, and then
I was cooking on used the equipment. At the same time.
I had no employees at the time. It's just me
being a cashier. The cook accounting inventory, anything that I
(07:03):
had to do to make it because I wanted to
be successful in a way I had to do that
was put myself in all these situations.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
To be able to you know, work hard to do
that myself.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Because I didn't have the money at the time to
to you know, give people to help me. Because at
the end of the day, I blew my money, you know,
and I spent my last you know, building Big Dave.
So I really had to get it out the mud.
So I would say that self belief is more than
anything that I had to do along the way, is
believing in myself. If you don't believe in yourself, there's
(07:32):
no way that you can get somebody else to believe
in you. So when I started believing in myself more,
I started to get you know, a little bit of traffic.
And to be honest, man, I tell everybody, Eve the rapper,
Eve Man, she was a big play, you know, a
big part of my story because in the midst of me,
you know, going through this year and now open, I
don't have no traffic.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
Still I'm going under. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Of course, if you can't pay the bills, eventually you're
gonna have to shut them doors and she posted me
on her social network.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Man, I made a chicken cheese steak for her.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Man right, and you know, so I did? You I
did because rapper, you famous, you know, great following, so
loyal following first of all. And so where were you
at for that connection to make? Did you know her?
Or she found out about your fusion recommended your food?
Tell me about that stuff.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
I was a friend. It was a friend.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
It was a friend, friend of a friend, and she
was shooting barbershop.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
You know, she was shooting the movie.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
And I waited all day for her to come, like
a kid on Christmas, I'm talking about.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
She ain't come.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Man, you know, you know I ain't get discoveraged that.
I said, you know, I'm gonna keep on fighting. And
the next day she really came. And as I was
making this chicken cheese steak. You know what she told me,
She said, if this sandwich is good, I'm gonna post
it on my social media networks.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Now you gotta think about it. I'm a kid from Philly,
I'm all my red sizes. I exhausted everything and now.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I'm like ship my life depends on is I gotta
make the.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
Sandwich the best I can make it. And when I
made this sandwich, she bit it.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
She went't crazy, she said, oh man, you.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Brung me home.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
And she put it on every social media outlet she
had at the time. And when I tell you, the
next day, I made five thousand dollars. That was my
biggest day ever at the time. And it was just
up from there. I started to be able to get
the community more involved because they seem traffic. You know,
people eat off of their eyes. You know, they see lines,
they say, well, got to be good. So I was
(09:24):
able to start building lines. And then the next part
of my journey that was a very big part of
my mission, was in twenty eighteen, I was picked to
go to a sandwich competition and Orange Beach, Alabama, and
I ranked number seventh in the world.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Okay, Orange Beach, Alabama sandwich competition. Okay, now this ain't
New York.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
This ain't that like, You're not even Atlanta.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
You a Orange Beach, Alabama sandwich competition. So see, that's
what I love about you. You know, you tell this story.
It is so normal to you. But Orange Beach, Alaba,
I don't think going to orangeby, Alabama gonna do anything
for anybody, but tell us about this competition and why
it was important to go.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
So so it was important to go because, for one,
I wanted to represent that not only had the best
cheese steak, but I wanted to have the best sandwich.
And honestly, it was an opportunity for me. You know,
I was hungry, you know, I had to fire in
my belly for success. I was waiting for my moment,
and when I got picked, I was ready for it.
But to be honest, when I got there, you know,
(10:28):
it was a little discussion because I was cooking on
a barbecue grill. Now, mind you, how do you make
a cheese steak on a barbecue grill because they don't
have flat tops. So what I had to do. I
went to Walmart and got a skill it and like
a flat top, and I put it over that gas
grill and I got that thing hot and I made
them cheese steaks, just like I was at Big Days.
You know, I took my obscoles and I pivoted, because
(10:51):
that's the thing. When you don't pivot when stuff happened,
you're gonna sink, You're gonna give up. You know, I'm
already at disadvantage, you know, to Americans. I'm a black
man to come from the ghetto, so I was supposed
to be here anyway, sure, you know. So the way
I was looking at it was, this is my opportunity
to make some noise for me and my people, to
show that I deserve to be here.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
And when they.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
Show what I'm saying when you say that in the
diversity at this competition was not much, when you make
a staatemle.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I can't I can't count on my my fingers how
many black people in this competition. And it probably was
maybe fifteen thousand, you know, could have been could have
been a little less, a little bit more, I'm not sure,
but I know that it was a good amount of people,
know that's trying to qualify for this, for this cooking competition.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And honestly, I never forget.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
I gave Bo Jackson a Dave's Way, and I said,
I know I had a big shot because I knew
I was.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Making this sandwich.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
But you know, all of my grind, my blood, sweat
and terrace, all these years of me working, I said,
I ain't come here to lose, man, you know, I
came here to show out and show on.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
And honestly, and they called Derrick Hayes.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
They said, you know, top qualifiers, top ten in the world.
And when they called me, I was talking to somebody
because we was in this big facility, right and I
was looking at them like they just called my name.
And it was mind blowing because at the end of
the day, you want to win, you want to get
to the mountain top, you want to get there. But
when they really call you a name, all your years
(12:23):
of your heart.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Work and everything you've been through start to pan out.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
And honestly, it was emotional for me because again, just
like you said, it was an Orange Beach, Alabama, and
me as a black man, winning anything at Orange Beach, Alabama.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Was a win for me on a barbecue grill on
a barbecue grill on a barbecue was skill it for
Walmart exactly.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You know, That's how a lot of myo a lot
of my journey was built off of blood, sweat and
tears and getting it out the mud for real, because
I wanted people to see a real, authentic side of
what I was building. I don't want people to, you know,
see that anything that was given because I wanted them
to see that if the reason verses with short and
they looking at me, they can do it too.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan MacDonald.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Well, the beauty of this conversation that I'm having with
you is that I know that establishing your brand because
setbacks are part of your growth. Now, in twenty twenty,
we all faced the pandemic and at that point we
didn't know what to do, and so you used the
word pivot early in your conversation, the word pivot, which
I think is really important this conversation. When we talked
to young entrepreneurs who have a goal set in place,
(13:40):
this is how I'm going to do it, and sometimes
when something interrupts that goal, they frustration sets in or
they throw their hands up. When COVID the country was
set down, how did you react to that and did
you have a game plan?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Dave, I'm gonna say this. I'm gonna say this in
the most humblest way. My life was a pitvot. I
come from West Philadelphia. I come from the jungle. I
come from Atlanta opportunity if you want it, because you
got to go get it. So when this happened in
this pandemic, of course, nobody had ever seen this tragedy
happened in the world like this, But I knew the
(14:13):
city I came from taught me how to pivot, So
I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Going to quit.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
I was going to find out a way to help
people while I was helping my brand be able to
grow at the same time.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
In a way I was able to do that was
I was.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Able to give a thousand plus meals to the community
because those same people that was going through those hard times.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Were the same people standing in my lines.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And then I wanted to help the healthcare workers, those
frontline workers.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
Those were the.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Same people that was patting their life on the line
every day for people that had COVID, and we didn't
really know how dangerous COVID was at the time, so.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Those people I wanted to help.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
I fed forty plus hospitals in a month of COVID
the first month. You know, really, no, we didn't know
what was going on, and I put my life on
the line just as well going to those hospitals because
I believed that it was a bigger purpose that they
seen an entrepreneur, a young black kid that come from
the ghetto standing up. Some other people would stand up,
and then we will all stand.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Up together, and we were reunite.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
And being able to get our communities back together in downtown.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I was able to help out.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
I donated twenty six thousand dollars to help businesses get
back open. So for me, it wasn't about making the
money in the pandemic pandemic, it was about helping others
get their doors back open, so that people could see
what type of person I was and what I stand from,
what I represent, and what I wanted out of my
own self. If you can look through a vision of me,
you can look through the vision of the community.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And we can grow together. And that's what I was
trying to do.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Well, you did it, and because you were recognized by
four twenty one, next one thousand on the red now again,
you know it goes back to Alabama. You know you
got that, you're in a tent. You know they call
your name. Didn't know that was going to happen. You shocked.
Now you're doing all this great work for the community.
You know, like you said, Now, one part in your
conversation where you're talking about selling, you're talking about uplifting, giving,
(15:57):
giving given twenty six thousand, there thousand sandwiches there. All
about the drive is if I give, then they show support.
It creates loyalty. That's a business model that corporations do
all the time, and that comes from service. Now, service
drives your business. Customer service is a high priority as
far as how you communicate with your with your customer base.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Correct, yes, yes, but I think I think with me,
with me, sir, I think with me is people see, yes, sir,
that I'm real. They see the authentic side of it,
like I'm not stripted.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
You know, I show my flaws.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I show my my my ups and down so that
you don't make the same mistakes that I made.
Speaker 3 (16:37):
I'm not selling you food.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
I'm selling you hope and I'm selling you a dream
a kid like me believing and want to make a change.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
And when they see that, they put.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
The food to the side for a second. They know
I make good food. Everybody loves my food, but they
also love the passion and the story that I'm putting
out because it's so many.
Speaker 3 (16:55):
Other people out here in the world that need that help.
You think about it. It could be a young kid that
looked just like me thirty four years old. He might
be in the hood trying to get out of not
being no, selling drugs or a bad situation.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
He can go ahead and punch on Instagram and look
at me and say, listen, I know this kid came
from the same thing I came from. I could do
it too. That's bigger than me than any money. That's
the biggest thing for me. You know. I could be
walking in the market and somebody will walk up to
me and say, hey, man, you don't even understand.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
You saved my life. You made me want to change.
You made me want more out of myself.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
And I used the food to be able to step
and stone and trigger that. I was told this once
upon in my life. My eye was bad on cancer
in two thousand and five. My name was Teresa Hennigan.
She eventually passed away, but in the middle of this
I went to a church with her and a pastor.
He told me in my ear, he said, you're going
to be a pastor.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Now.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
At the time, I'm playing basketball, I had who dreams
to make it to the NBA.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
I said, I'm not going to be no pastor. A
pastor is not about getting on a poor pit. It's
about spreading the message. It's about giving a message so
other people could receive. And right now, every day I
spread the message.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
When these people out here seeing big day build these
two locations, young black kid comes from the ghetto, bill
multi million dollar companies left and right right now, they
get motivated by that. So for me, that's the biggest motivation.
For me.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
It ain't about the money. It's about the motivation for
my people.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
Well, you know the interesting thing about it. You know
when I saw you on the cover of Essence. You
know usually you know when you on the cover of Essence,
you know, you interest Ailblew. You know what I'm saying,
you know, Michael B. Jordan, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
That's man, that's the legendary. Go go go, go go.
Speaker 1 (18:30):
That's it. Nice smiling y'all, y'all, y'all all the y'all.
I gotta tell you he's straightened up a little bit
when I started talking about being on the cover of
Essence because Essence, like you know, because I'm older than you.
That's the you know, that's Ebony back in my day.
That's Jet magazine back in my day. You know, you
saw that you left that on the coffee table. Wouldn't
happen because you know, that was an announcement about your brand.
(18:51):
But it's even a bigger announcement for you because it
wasn't entertainment driven your parent on there. It was about
you as a person, what you do for the community,
and you being able to step out. Like you talk
about your background, you come from humble beginnings, you come
from Philadelphia, you come from a neighborhood like I came
from a neighborhood where people stereotype your success. You know,
(19:11):
you know exactly you driving that neighborhood. Then people will
question why you come out how exactly it's like you
you lucky?
Speaker 2 (19:20):
You turns like that you don't like you don't belong here,
like you like you ain't deserve it. And I think, see,
and that's what I'm trying to teach too. You know,
I was asked this question yesterday. I was having a
conversation and they said, why do you think our culture,
you know, handle things differently?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
And the reason what that being is just imagine if you.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Was a kid on Christmas, right right, everybody got this toy,
but this one kid got the best toy that everybody wanted.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
That if that kid never.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Was taught how to share that toy, because he never
had the resources to feel good about having anything that
feel good, then how can that kid ever know he's
going wrong? When you in an environment of everything a
certain way, that's what you're accustomed to.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Now, what I'm trying to show different is.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Okay, we step out of these boundaries of these inner cities,
these lower income communities, and now we got social media
outlets showing us when it's right from wrong.
Speaker 3 (20:12):
But the leaders that.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Got the voice got to help out and say, listen,
now that we got the ball in our hands, let's.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Stick together and change these communities out and give resources.
Let's build community.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Centers, centers, Let's build financial literacy program so that when.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
Kids get to high school and when they about.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
To get out of high school, they ain't lost on
about a credit card or or how they going to
do their financial literacy, or how they're going to get
through college. They know that spending over thirty percent on
their credit card going to mess they credit up before
the bill cycle hit, they know that they can now you.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Know, utilize their capital before.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
That bill cycle hit so that now they're not getting
pittllized for interest.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
So they rotating this money making money.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
They know how to get cash back cash rewards cards
when they spending money to put it in they savings
account when it earns enough money to now move the
money and it's free money off of spending money. But
we can't teach that when know that, and all we
can know is what's going on in these communities to survive.
Like I said, where I come from at in Philly,
I was born to just survive and my day of
(21:08):
living it was my dead survival. I ain't thinking about tomorrow.
So I'm trying to teach my generation. Now let's worry
about tomorrow. Because when you've got kids, you got to
lead them set up for when you ain't here, you
got to take care of them from the grave.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
You know what I'm saying. That's why we're doing as
a life insurance initiative right now.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Wow, you know I love as we progress through this interview, Derek,
how your energy, your comfort zone with me has just
picked up and keep transferring to an even more positive level.
But the number one thing when I talk about and
I meet individuals like you because you're a self made person.
Like I said, you're not a shame of your journey
now because at the beginning I always talk about friends, family,
(21:46):
and don't let anybody stop you from living your dream
and stop you from planning your dream. Okay, when you
talk about the community and the next step, what is
Big Dave's future, how do you how do you conceptualize?
And because you know it, ain't you no more than
seven hundred and fifty square foot shell gas station by yourself.
You have to put a team around you. What does
that team look like? So our team, so our listeners
(22:09):
and our viewers can understand. When you grow, grow has
to be surrounded by quality. You have to spend money
to keep that quality around you in order to you
dream to grow.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I like this topic right here because a lot of people,
you know, they might tell me I'm too top heavy
with the locations that I have. But the thing is,
if you ain't, if you ready, you ain't got.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
To get ready. You know when that moment happened.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
So in the midst of in the midst of everything
that I'm done with my brand, you know, I just
want for me, like philanthropy is a big thing for me,
you know, building this brand, I love it just as
much as I love, you know, the restaurant space. I
love talking to people because, for one, I know that
I'm giving them real game that I've been through on
(22:54):
my life to help them change theirs. No, I don't
think I know everything, but me at thirty four years old,
I was blessing a lot of ways that you know,
a lot of people may not have got to yet,
and I can now help them when they get to
the situation in their life they're not making those same
mistakes I made. Let me tell you something, Mistakes costs
in the business. Right when you're in business.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Mistakes cost. It costs.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
When I mean it costs, it's more than money. It
hurts you in the finance side. But scaling the business,
you need it cro to be good. The COO to
be good, your gms to be good, your assistant managers
to be good, your fry.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Cooks, your grill cooks.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Everybody is a motor that works together to operate this vehicle.
And without that you can't scale. And it took me
years to really be able to get that together because,
like I said, I love Hardt, so I see the
best out of people, sometimes down seeing themselves. But I
was also told this by multiple different billionaires, and this
was my blessing.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
You know, you're never.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Going to scale if you don't get thick skin to
be able to do it, because these same people aren't
gonna be with you. The ones that belong what you're
gonna be with you because they want.
Speaker 3 (24:04):
To better themselves along the journey.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
But the ones who just tagging along and the business
is growing and they're not growing, you know, you're gonna
eventually have to leave them or the business is gonna
leave you.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
And if the business leave the CEO, you.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Know what happens after that, It goes it goes down
to dream right, And and that's what I'm not building.
Like I told you, this a high this to my father.
I know in the end of this, I'm a building.
I'm building a billion oile of business. I'ma have big
days everywhere, and I want to keep on setting a
bar high and setting the culture and what I got
going on outside of you know, just the Big Daves brand.
(24:36):
You know, me and Pinky we jumped in real estate
heavy and the reason why we're doing that is because
we're trying to build up these communities. So when stuff
ain't looking right in these communities, what's better to say
it is it's people that look just like the people
that's from these communities building them up, and they ain't
developers tearing them up and moving them out. You know
what I'm saying, right, We're gonna keep them. We're gonna
keep them in, We're gonna give them jobs. And the
(24:58):
way we're gonna do that is all these companies we build.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
I love it, you know. Some Like I said, I'm
right down the street from your location over there, Brand Mark,
I'm right now, that's where you're at. I'm right down
the street from that. And so so my staff supports it.
First of all, A George, they talk to you, your passion,
your information, you gift man, your gift and a blessing.
(25:22):
You're an entrepreneurial spirit. You are what America is built on,
a land of opportunity. You know, we should never be
denied based on the color of our skin or the
education that people perceive we don't have. You are the
person that I bring on the show to educate my
audience that anything is possible, and I want to thank
you for coming out. Money Making Conversation master Class.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Thank you man, and I thank you for having me.
And I want to I want to release one more thing. Okay,
people listening. So it's not about how you start. It's
not about what's going to happen in the middle of
that race. Shoe get untied, your soul gett messed up,
you sneak and fall off.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Just finish the race.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
Don't worry about the place you're going to be in
because as long as you finish the race, the job
is done.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
And when the job is done, guess what you can
say at the end of the day.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
I finished the marathon because I wasn't worrying about the race.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
You know what I'm saying. So the end of it all,
you gave it all you got.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
As long as you give it all you got, and
you finished that line, as long as you cross it.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
Be proud of yourself and your journey, and.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Stop siusing yourself up to other people, because God got
everybody's journey for themselves to be able to better other people.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
You don't know.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
It may feel like that man or that woman got
that success overnight, but you don't know what they've been through.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
To get that success. Absolutely, it's not attract me as
a marathon. So I always remember that.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
I love it because I always tell people that, you know,
don't look at it. So it's saying, don't look at
somebody else's y'all. You know, you don't have to explain
the word I finished versus I quit. I quit, You
have to explain it. I finished me and I made
maximum effort to get the job done. That's all you're saying.
And I love it. Brother. We're going to talk in
person because I want to sit down and just chat
(26:59):
with you. I appreciate your time, man, because you're a
special Again. I've had Pinky on the show. Both of
y'all are special. But congratulations. You know, mister Andrewes Evil
Big Days Cheesecake. You know, mister sexy, mister sexy, mister
good looking, got the t fall out there. You know,
forty three tattoos straight out of Philly.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
Big Day. Jeez Dak, keep doing your thing. I see
you be in the kitchen whipping up your jeez steak man.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
I love it, man, Stay strong, bro, Big Days Cheez
steak Man.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Thank you man.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
All right, we talked soon. If you want to hear
us see any of my interviews oh money Making Conversation,
Please go to money Making Conversation dot com. I'm with
Sean McDonald. I am your host.
Speaker 4 (27:40):
Thank you for joining us for this edition of money
Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with through Sean
McDonald is produced by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. More
information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available at
thirty eight to fifteen media dot com. And always remember
to lead with your gifts
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Thomas "Nephew Tommy" Miles
Carla Ferrell
Kier "Junior" Spates
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