When the big paychecks roll in after building a successful business, it may be tempting to splurge on designer clothes, luxury mansions, and high-tech gadgets. When Derrick Hayes—an entrepreneur who grew up in “survival mode” selling bean pies and newspapers on the streets of Philadelphia—finally made it with his multimillion-dollar fast-casual restaurant chain Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks, that meant he had the chance to finally get behind the wheel of some flashy cars.
“My kryptonite is cars,” Hayes tells Fortune. “I had two Bentleys…I had a McLaren, Audi R8, Range Rover, G-Wagon. I’ve had pretty much every car.”
The founder and CEO treated himself after a decade of growing Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks into a national success. In 2014, the Philly native launched the chain after his ailing dad wished for him to start his own business—so he opened the first location, named after his late father, in a Shell gas station in Dunwoody, Georgia. And ten years later, the restaurant has exploded across the U.S. with 12 locations, with two of Big Dave’s hotspot locations in Atlanta bringing in $1.1 million to $1.8 million in net sales last year alone. The chain sells a cheesesteak—ranging from the basic $11.99 sandwich to $46.99 specialty choices—every 58 seconds.
