Derrick Hayes, founder and CEO of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks, joins Zack Oates to share how he built a fast-growing brand rooted in purpose, culture, and community. What started as a way to honor his father has evolved into a company known for its energy, loyalty, and strong guest experience.

A Brand Built on Legacy (01:11)

“I wanted to make his name live.”

Derrick explains that Big Dave’s started as something deeply personal. Every interaction with guests connects back to that purpose, which gives the brand emotional weight beyond the food.

Guests Are Family (03:39)

“You’re not just walking into a food spot, you’re walking into a family.”

The experience is designed to feel like a reunion. From the greeting at the door to the energy inside the store, the goal is to make every guest feel seen and cared for.

Customer Service Over Everything (04:12)

“Customer service is my biggest driver in the company.”

Derrick emphasizes that great service can recover from mistakes and bring people back. Even when things are not perfect, how guests are treated determines whether they return.

Build Careers Not Jobs (05:28)

“I’m not just here to punch a clock, I’m here for a career.”

By giving early employees ownership opportunities and clear growth paths, Derrick creates buy-in. When employees feel invested, they naturally deliver better guest experiences.

Real-Time Feedback Drives Growth (08:06)

“We want honest feedback so we can polish up.”

Big Dave’s uses direct guest feedback, QR codes, and in-store conversations to constantly improve. This keeps the brand responsive and aligned with what guests actually want.

Culture Must Scale Too (11:08)

“They feel that same culture every time they walk in.”

As the brand grows, maintaining consistency is critical. Derrick stays hands-on and leads by example to ensure the experience never loses its authenticity.

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/derrick-hayes/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/bigdavescheesesteaks/

https://www.bigdavesway.com/

Transcript

00:00:00:11 – 00:00:25:15

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give An Ovation, the Restaurant Guest Experience podcast. I’m your host, Zack Oates, and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics to help you create a five star guest experience. This podcast is powered by ovation, the AI feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what’s actually happening in your restaurant and exactly how to improve while driving revenue.

00:00:25:16 – 00:00:48:14

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation up.com. And today we have a rising star that is blowing up ten years in the making. Derrick Hayes, he is the CEO of Big Dave’s Cheesesteak. Hearing about it all over the place. Based in Atlanta but quickly growing nationwide. Derek, welcome to the podcast, man.

00:00:48:16 – 00:00:50:10

Derrick Hayes

Thank you man. Thank you for having me.

00:00:50:12 – 00:00:56:05

Zack Oates

So, Derek, for those who don’t know, walk me through Big Dave’s cheesesteak.

00:00:56:07 – 00:01:11:21

Derrick Hayes

Well, it all started from an idea, you know, that I had in my head that I want to hand to my father. My dad had passed away from Lung cancer. And I knew that it was going to be a coping mechanism for me because he was my best friend. So about had him no more was the best thing to do keep him alive.

00:01:11:21 – 00:01:30:03

Derrick Hayes

So I wanted to make his names there. That was my goal. So you know me just dreaming in 2009. You know what I’m going to do once I leave Philly? I knew I was going to, you know, change my life and do something better. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do. So one night, I was leaving a party and there was a spot that said, Phillies.

00:01:30:03 – 00:01:45:13

Derrick Hayes

They were selling Phillies. And I was like, what’s the Philly? And I go in there and, I wanted the cheesesteak. And I’m like, well, I want to call it the Philly. And it just, like, dinged in my head, like, oh, I’m about to bring the original cheesesteak to the south, to the southeast and let them see. Exactly.

00:01:45:13 – 00:02:06:14

Derrick Hayes

You know what it is. Now needless it was a lot harder than, you know, just my dreams and my imaginations. But over the years, it’s been amazing because I’ve been able to go through these rollercoaster rides, teach myself, also lift other people up while I’m doing it. I’ve been able to motivate communities. I’ve been able to just bring a brand that’s for the United States and globally around the world that people enjoy.

00:02:06:15 – 00:02:23:00

Derrick Hayes

And it’s been amazing so far. And and all, you know, just happened off me. Just want to honor my father and, keep his name alive. So when people say welcome to big names or is that a big name? My father’s name is still carrying on, and it helped me keep his name alive. And it feels good and make me feel like, you know, I’m not alone in the world.

00:02:23:00 – 00:02:25:06

Derrick Hayes

And I still have my father some way.

00:02:25:08 – 00:02:39:00

Zack Oates

Amen, man. And what a great way to honor your father by having something where people can come together and connect. I think that’s beautiful. I mean, have you always loved cheesesteaks or what was it that kind of got you into cheesesteaks?

00:02:39:02 – 00:02:53:22

Derrick Hayes

The thing that really resonated me, what it seems like is I grew up of I’m from West Philadelphia, so my whole life that was the history of Philadelphia. You got cheesesteaks, you got a tie and ice, which we call water ice. And it’s just like a marriage for us. Like, you know, growing up, like, these are the things you want to do.

00:02:53:22 – 00:03:06:08

Derrick Hayes

Either you want to go get a cheesesteak, you want to go get a water ice, you wanna go get a pizza, might get some Chinese food. But those are the things I was real like big in Philly. And when I seen that it was a need that Georgia was missing and I just wanted to fill that void.

00:03:06:10 – 00:03:13:23

Zack Oates

I love that obviously, you’re creating an amazing brand and some great things. I mean, I know that you’re in the restaurant right now and it is bumping.

00:03:13:23 – 00:03:27:23

Derrick Hayes

Yeah, you know, I’m in my little office right now. I had to create me a backdrop. You know, it’s gotta do what you gotta do. And I appreciate you giving me this interview because people like you helped me, you know, spread the word. Also, just let people know what I’m building and is here to stay.

00:03:28:02 – 00:03:38:24

Zack Oates

I love that. And one of the things that obviously you care about so much is the guest experience. And so as you think about the guest experience, what do you think is most important to you for one?

00:03:39:01 – 00:03:58:10

Derrick Hayes

So for one, the most important thing for me is to get people to understand that you’re not just walking into a food spot, you’re walking into a family like a barbecue family reunion. We care about how you feel today. When we walk, when you walk in the door, I was saying, hey, welcome in. How you doing? We always understand that somebody could have woke up this morning at some bad news.

00:03:58:10 – 00:04:12:08

Derrick Hayes

You could have been on a way to get lunch and got some bad news, or you just might be having a down day. We want you to understand that when you walk in the big name cheesesteaks, we are here for you. We are here to serve you. We are here to make you feel good. And customer service is my biggest driver in the company.

00:04:12:08 – 00:04:34:05

Derrick Hayes

Like, right now, the location I’m in right now is my flagship is, downtown Atlanta, 300 Marietta Street. And I got a 4.9 over 2000 reviews in this location off of Google. You know, people coming in and out. And this is a tourism spot. So, you know, having tourism spots is really hard to get reviews because, yeah, people sometimes just come one time and give their review and they go back home to their city and state.

00:04:34:05 – 00:04:49:10

Derrick Hayes

You never hear from them again. What a good thing about us and those reviews. A lot of people say, I cannot wait to open in our city and state, I cannot wait. Oh that’s awesome. I’ll wait to have it. So we are creating something that is a little different than a lot of companies where you say, hey, this is a tourism spot.

00:04:49:12 – 00:04:56:17

Derrick Hayes

No, this is the spot where we get our data, understand what colleges and what groups and what cities and states want us. That’s how we do reviews.

00:04:56:19 – 00:05:11:04

Zack Oates

And what do you look for? I mean, in terms of training your staff and in terms of hiring your staff, in terms of making sure that that culture stays alive, like, how do you keep that culture of really caring about the guest experience alive and everyone?

00:05:11:04 – 00:05:28:14

Derrick Hayes

Well, anything. What people you got to see it to believe it. And I think that we have really strong leaders that interview people, that let people know if we let someone inside this, this company and this brand, you have to operate at the highest standards because this is how we operate. But needless to say, I have early on employees that I gave phantom equity to.

00:05:28:14 – 00:05:43:00

Derrick Hayes

You know, as long as they stay in the company, you know, they are excited, they will reap the benefits. But people get to see that. They see, you know, people, hey, this guy at the time in here, he was able to become some type of equity holder. And I think that allows people to say, I’m not just here to punch a clock.

00:05:43:00 – 00:05:59:16

Derrick Hayes

I’m here for a career. I have an opportunity to actually retire and is going to have an opportunity to actually change my trajectory for my family. Like I got people in this low, in the company right now. When I started, they had no home, no car, no family. I got guys that bought homes, bought cars, married their wives.

00:05:59:22 – 00:06:07:12

Derrick Hayes

I actually got a guy who was my first employee that actually been married, I think, now for two years. He met his wife at the register.

00:06:07:17 – 00:06:09:12

Zack Oates

Oh, that’s so cool.

00:06:09:14 – 00:06:27:18

Derrick Hayes

Yeah. So, like, we are here for a lot of many reasons, you know, and we like to say that we’re beginning food. The cheesesteak is amazing. The egg rolls are amazing, the food is amazing. But we like to stand on culture because we understand that we live in a very fast paced world right now where a lot of love is not given, and we try to give you that love when you come in a location.

00:06:27:24 – 00:06:42:24

Derrick Hayes

And I mean, honestly, right now it’s like if you went to a restaurant and I just was off that day, I had a food was a little off, but the customer service was so amazing. I’m going to give them another shot. And that’s how I’ve been able to grow this brand because like, you know, people are going to make mistakes.

00:06:43:02 – 00:07:05:07

Derrick Hayes

We’re human. But end of the day, like if you’re just you’re standing on a customer service, standing on what we represent, when somebody walk in the door, we letting them know how we feel about them. I think that shows the people aspect of what we’re building. When you look at, McDonald’s in their early days when you was a kid and you seen the, McDonald House where they had the playhouses all on the weekends, that was the culture of the brand.

00:07:05:09 – 00:07:22:14

Derrick Hayes

The brand sold burgers, but the culture was family. The culture was getting people to understand my backdrop falling down on me, getting people to understand. And that is bigger than food. And honestly, I took a lot of those legacy brands that I seen growing up, and I learned a lot from them. Me building this brand just wasn’t like, hey, this is my vision.

00:07:22:14 – 00:07:34:09

Derrick Hayes

This is all I want to see. I said, how can I look at a lot of successful brands that happened over the last 40, 50 years that done something bright and I could polish in and make it better in my systems. And that’s what I’ve been able to do.

00:07:34:11 – 00:07:48:16

Zack Oates

I love that, I mean, so powerful to learn from successes. And as you look at your brand and you look at some of the tactics that you’re using to improve the guest experience, some of the things that you’ve seen working well, what are some of the things that you’ve used in and done to improve the guest experience?

00:07:48:18 – 00:08:06:16

Derrick Hayes

One incorporating some type of AI technology because, let’s be honest, we live in a world now where data is king and we like to get people real feedback in real time. So we’ll get a review on a spotlight. We have a lot of barcodes where you come in, and from the moment you buy the walk out, we say, hey, you scan and give us a review.

00:08:06:18 – 00:08:22:05

Derrick Hayes

We want honest feedback. We tell them whether you had a good experience or a bad experience. We’d like to hear your experience so that we can polish up. And the way we do that is getting guests real time reactions, whether that’s a GM or a shift. Lee going over to a large party saying, hey, how was your food?

00:08:22:05 – 00:08:38:05

Derrick Hayes

How could we do better? Or how did you like it? Or what did you see that we can improve in those things, help us out as a whole group. Lastly, I like to say, you know, from third party, you know, where you got like DoorDash, Uber and all those things. You’re able to see now how your food carry without your face.

00:08:38:07 – 00:08:57:02

Derrick Hayes

And I think that’s what people don’t understand is like, you can carry well in customer service in a restaurant, but when you have a stranger that don’t work in your company, grabbing the food and going to take the food somewhere else, and you want that same guest experience, the hold up. Now you come in from a food aspect, the saying, hey, we use premium food.

00:08:57:02 – 00:09:20:19

Derrick Hayes

We don’t use any, we don’t cut any corners. When it comes to food, we are a premium fast casual brand, we like to say, and those type of ingredients last longer. Like when you from a French fries, from the type of steak we use from the road, we use it, it holds up. So like I say right now, like if you was the ordered cheesesteak and you had your offers and you and your guys about the lunch and it’s a 20 minutes to come, I want that 20 minutes that don’t feel like 20 minutes.

00:09:20:19 – 00:09:36:10

Derrick Hayes

I wanted to feel like you walked inside my location, and now it’s so hot and is pleasing you so that you can give me a 4.5 rating or Google walk or meal. I’m, DoorDash or Uber or more. So we got one model. Let’s show who we are as a company, as customer service when you walk through that door.

00:09:36:12 – 00:09:42:16

Derrick Hayes

And secondly, we’re going to show you who we are without our face being shown and our food. And that’s our third party.

00:09:42:18 – 00:09:47:20

Zack Oates

And how do you make sure that that guest feels the love when you’re doing stuff off prem?

00:09:47:22 – 00:10:14:22

Derrick Hayes

We’re very system driven and I’m the CEO and founder of the company, but I don’t per se push myself that way. I like to push myself to the team as well, team members and let’s grow together. And I think that’s how we’ve been able to grow the guest experience, because let’s be honest, if you were sitting there working and you say you, your boss is either going to be two things you’re going to try to overwork to impress your boss, or you’re going to slack off Fernando, you slacking off because you don’t think your boss even care.

00:10:15:01 – 00:10:32:05

Derrick Hayes

But if your boss come in as a team member and say, hey, I’ll get dirty with you, let’s go. It’s a team effort. Always, and it’s less feeling like, hey, I work for somebody because like, we live in a world where you got to worry about ego too, right? You think about it, you know, I’m be 39 years old, May 8th, right?

00:10:32:07 – 00:10:49:19

Derrick Hayes

I hire people that that’s older than me or younger than me don’t matter. But at the same time, you might have someone that has been brought up a certain way and an ego might be driven from working for a young guy or working for a young company. And that helps when you come at them and say, hey, we in this together now I am the leader of the company.

00:10:49:19 – 00:11:08:01

Derrick Hayes

Always represent that way, but I always will get dirty with you. Like right now. I could walk in a restaurant and we’re jam-packed and I see the grill getting backed up. I’m getting dirty with them. I don’t care what I got on, what outfit I got on. I’m getting dirty because I understand that the guests going to see that they’re going to see the CEO and founder of a multi-million dollar company still getting dirty.

00:11:08:03 – 00:11:25:17

Derrick Hayes

And that’s how I’ve been able to make this brand feel authentic and stay authentic. Zach, you know, once you get up to ten locations, 15 locations, the water start coming, watering down started coming. You know, the gas experience change. The customer can see it immediately. The ones that have been there since day one. My customer don’t see that my customer walks in.

00:11:25:17 – 00:11:42:01

Derrick Hayes

All the big Dave sees sticks and they feel that same culture because we drive it. I have some kind of Blue Apron program, right? If my employees learn how to work all the stations, they graduate to a shift lead, and once they grab as a way to a shift, they have an opportunity now to be a GM in a couple months.

00:11:42:01 – 00:12:04:17

Derrick Hayes

Right now, they’re working towards something. So imagine the person that started on the fryer. Now start working on the register now. I started being a grill cook. Now started being whether it’s, helping out in the back of the house. But now I got a GM saying, this person is ready for a Blue apron. This person out of work, all the categories in a restaurant, this person who carries off from customer service, this person is a leader.

00:12:04:17 – 00:12:24:02

Derrick Hayes

So they check all the boxes. And then I come in in real time and I graduate them. So. Shively. So that’s how we keep the guest experience exciting. That’s how we keep the guest experience strong. And that’s how we keep the customer service strong. Because and Big Dave’s, they’re just not coming in and punching the clock. They’re working towards something everybody and like want to feel like they’re included in something.

00:12:24:02 – 00:12:38:15

Derrick Hayes

I don’t care what you do, you can be the most coward of this person in the world. But if you study just building something for somebody else and you’re not included, one day you’re going to wake up and say, when am I going to be included in this? When am I going to get my flowers? When am I going to feel like I’m a part of something?

00:12:38:15 – 00:12:47:11

Derrick Hayes

I have build? They don’t have the question next the day when we let them know. When you get hired, you have an opportunity to be a part of all of this organization all the way up.

00:12:47:13 – 00:13:10:21

Zack Oates

I love that man and I think that’s so powerful. As we look at what we’re doing, there’s that incredible concept of improving and getting these employees excited because, as we always say, the employee experience dictates the guest experience. You’ve got to make sure that they’re excited, they’re loving it, they’re feeling the upward momentum, and they transfer that to the guests.

00:13:10:21 – 00:13:16:18

Zack Oates

I think that, you know, they say a fish always stinks from the head first. And when you’re the head of that fish over there, man. Right.

00:13:16:18 – 00:13:31:11

Derrick Hayes

And I’m like and I and speak of you you’re fishing mechanism. I always use this in real life. I said, look official, I grew up fishing in real life. My dad was a fisherman and it taught me patience. So you get a bait on the line and throw it in the water. You can’t see what’s about to bite your hook, right?

00:13:31:11 – 00:13:46:24

Derrick Hayes

That’s success. You’re trying to catch something. Sometimes you’ll get a bite, sometimes you’ll get a nibble. But if you’re not ready when you catch that big fish, which you’re going to do, you can’t reel it in. That success. You ask for so much, you’re not learning as you go. When you get it, you’ll lose it. And I like to keep that with my teammates to let them understand.

00:13:47:01 – 00:13:54:19

Derrick Hayes

We always fishing, but we patient. And we learned how to fish and we learned how to row that fish in no matter how small, how big it is. So that we can move forward.

00:13:54:21 – 00:14:01:19

Zack Oates

Yeah. Love that. Well, Derek, I know you know a lot of people in this industry, but who’s someone that deserves an ovation, who’s someone that we should be following.

00:14:01:21 – 00:14:17:10

Derrick Hayes

What you already probably follow. But I’m just proud of my wife right now. She went through difficult times last year, you know, restructuring her company, but now she’s coming back strong. She just had a franchise and is getting a lot of leads right now. I’m just happy for her because I’m seeing her smile again. So I want to get the flowers right now.

00:14:17:10 – 00:14:34:21

Derrick Hayes

It’s, Pinky Cole is my wife because she deserve everything that she got coming tired because she didn’t give up. I tell people all the time, the easiest thing to do is to quit because you don’t have to worry about it afterwards. But I can promise you this. If you keep going and shooting your shot, you won’t have to tell somebody about what you did or what you could’ve did.

00:14:34:21 – 00:14:36:13

Derrick Hayes

You have done it.

00:14:36:15 – 00:14:49:17

Zack Oates

Amen. I love that and her book. I hope you Fail. I mean, just so powerful, such a great message. And she’s just such an inspiration. I’ve enjoyed every single time I’ve heard her speak. Yeah. And on this question, on this podcast.

00:14:49:17 – 00:15:07:07

Derrick Hayes

Yeah. Honestly, I just think that she has the Rose story to pay attention to when they come from, you know, growth and, leadership. And honestly, you know, as CEO and founder in the public eye, you’re always going to get blamed for something. But I think right now she’s standing on ten toes and showing people that she really has a strong brain.

00:15:07:07 – 00:15:13:08

Derrick Hayes

She really has an American brand is here to stay. And, I’m going to help her to make sure that she does that.

00:15:13:10 – 00:15:20:05

Zack Oates

Love that Derek appreciate them. And how do people find and follow Big Dave’s cheesesteaks and you okay.

00:15:20:07 – 00:15:38:21

Derrick Hayes

Big Dave cheesesteaks on Instagram. Personal page, official dehaze. And if you want a franchise, go to the big cheesesteaks.com. Fill out the franchise application. We are accepting qualified individuals right now. We’re looking for more to you and the operators. Now let’s go. We’ve done this, special and it’s going to be here to stay.

00:15:38:23 – 00:15:46:02

Zack Oates

Love that. Well Derek for showing us how to build a legacy from day one. Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you for joining us on Given Ovation.

00:15:46:08 – 00:15:47:07

Derrick Hayes

Thank you.

00:15:47:09 – 00:16:09:21

Zack Oates

Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen. We’re all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by ovation, a two question, SMS based, actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you’d like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovation up.com.