Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks CEO grew up in ‘survival mode’ selling newspapers and bean pies—now his chain sells a $12 cheesesteak every 58 seconds

“I was in survival mode my whole life, from being a kid to high school,” Hayes tells Fortune. “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.”

Hayes is now a long ways away from his teenage years shoveling driveways, and his early career as a postal-service worker. In 2014, the Philly native finally pursued his passion after his ailing father wished for him to start his own business—so he opened Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks, named after his late father, in a Shell gas station in Dunwoody, Georgia. Ten years later, the chain has exploded across the U.S. with 12 locations, and four new restaurant openings completed in just four months of this year. Two of Big Dave’s hotspot locations in Atlanta brought in around $1.1 million to 1.8 million in net sales last year; and the chain sells a cheesesteak, ranging from the basic $11.99 sandwich to $46.99 specialty choices, every 58 seconds, with more than 1,500 of the iconic sandwiches sold every day. 

With 100% of Big Dave’s franchise owners identifying as Black or BIPOC, Hayes is pouring money back into underserved communities, spreading his entrepreneurial spirit beyond the suburban sidewalks where he once sold bean pies. 

“As I’ve been able to be an entrepreneur and [in] growing this business, I learned that my gift is not even making the money. My gift is actually giving people opportunity,” Hayes says. “I’m able to lift people through my dream. I’ve got 400 employees right now, and everybody has an opportunity to be able to spread their wings inside of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks.” 

Leaving the U.S. postal service to pursue his dad’s wish

Even though Hayes embodied an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, his first job after high school in Philadelphia was a classic nine-to-five. During his early 20’s, the CEO was working for the postal service, making good money with health benefits. But everything changed when his father fell ill—he was battling lung cancer, and needed support during his final years. Hayes’ employer wouldn’t let him take time off to be at his side, so Hayes was forced to walk away from his stable career. 

“When I got in the postal service, I thought that that would be the career job that I would probably retire off of,” Hayes says. 

“I went to my boss and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve been working here for almost four years, never taking a day off. I need time off for my father so I can be there with him.’…And my boss told me, ‘I’m sorry, it’s the holidays, I can’t give you off.’ I said, ‘Listen, I’m gonna get another job, I’m not gonna get another father.”

Spending those final moments with father would reshape both his personal life and professional life forever. Not only was it life-altering to see his father and best friend pass away from the harrowing illness, but his dad’s final wish also changed the trajectory of his entire career. Hayes said he promised his father he would have something to show for his hard work. Five years later, Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks—named in memory of his father—would be born in an old Shell gas station. 

“My dad gave me principles and morals that’s instilled in me today…When it comes to Big Dave cheesesteaks, I always think about how my father would do it. Because watching your dad die in front of your face is something that you’ll never forget,” Hayes says. “I wouldn’t say I was forced into this career, but it was something that I felt like was needed, and it was something that I felt like I wanted to honor my father.”

From buying an abandoned Shell gas station to opening 12 locations across the U.S. 

In 2014, Hayes finally decided to fulfill his father’s wish and put his business plan into action by opening up his own joint. And he found the perfect place to do it: at a 700-square-foot Shell gas station in Atlanta, Georgia, near where some of his family members lived. Although the serial entrepreneur is now known for his cheesesteaks, he actually started out slinging Italian ices. 

“It was called Dave’s Philly Water Ice. Nobody was supporting me—I thought when I opened this business up, I’d have lines down the block. And people used to be like, ‘Are you selling cups of water?’” Hayes reminisces. “I’m telling my mom, ‘This is not gonna work. It worked in Philly, but they are just not adapting to us.’ My mom was like, ‘Listen, do the thing that you really wanted to do, put the cheesesteaks in there.’”

Hayes quickly pivoted the restaurant to serve up the iconic Philly sandwich: a bread roll stuffed with seasoned halal beef, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and cheese. Despite the menu revamp, hungry customers still weren’t flooding into his restaurant until a couple years later when rapper, actress, and TV host Eve popped into the store. The Philly-native was in town shooting comedy-drama film Barbershop: The Next Cut, hankering an authentic cheesesteak. Her support came in the nick of time.

“My ego, my pockets, my business, everything is falling apart because I’m not making money. I don’t have people supporting the brand. And then life taught me, ‘If you keep chasing, something will happen,’” Hayes says. “Later on that week, she popped up…She just posted [on social media], and it went viral. Next thing you know, I got lines out the gas station—it was more traffic than I could handle.”

The success didn’t stop there. In 2018, Hayes was invited to represent Georgia at a sandwich competition in Alabama. With no prior experience working in professional kitchens as a chef—he learned how to make good food with his grandfather, cooking up meals on Sundays—Hayes took seventh place and beat out 1,500 trained professionals. At this point, Hayes and his restaurant chain were getting more and more attention; the brand opened two locations in Georgia in 2020, and three inside the Mercedes Benz Stadium. In 2022, Big Dave’s flagship location in downtown Atlanta generated over $2.3 million in revenue alone. 

Even though thousands of cheesesteaks are now flying off grills and into customers’ hands daily, Big Dave’s multimillion-dollar success was anything but meteoric. It took years of steady hard work and incremental wins for the business to stand where it is today—and Hayes wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Everything in my career has stages, where I’m blessed to say that I didn’t move too fast and move too slow,” Hayes says. “I moved at a good pace.”