Speaker 1: What's up, everybody. I'm Gammy d Rodney, and this is
Speaker 1: positively gam As many of you know, we love food
Speaker 1: and we're very excited to have today's guest on the
Speaker 1: show because he owns multiple restaurants and has cracked the
Speaker 1: code on how to make the perfect G steak. I
Speaker 1: had to have my husband, Rodney on today because he
Speaker 1: also is an entrepreneur, So hey, babe, he love how
Speaker 1: you doing. I'm doing good. Before we get into the episode,
Speaker 1: I just want to talk a little bit about your
Speaker 1: own entrepreneurial journey, because you've been an entrepreneur since we
Speaker 1: met years ago, and all of your businesses you're extremely
Speaker 1: successful right now, So talk to us a little bit
Speaker 1: about that, because I think it's important for people to
Speaker 1: understand that. You know, sometimes you start something and it
Speaker 1: doesn't all ways work, but that doesn't mean that you
Speaker 1: have to give up. I've always wanted to own my
Speaker 1: own business. Like a lot of people don't want that responsibility,
Speaker 1: but I've always wanted it. Even as a child. I
Speaker 1: wrote a paper in the third grade and I talked
Speaker 1: about owning a business and going back to the neighborhood
Speaker 1: and employing people and helping out in third grade. I
Speaker 1: kind of always had an aspiration to do this. So
Speaker 1: as I got older, my first little entrepreneurial thing was
Speaker 1: I was probably twelve years old. I started going to
Speaker 1: the candy factory and buying candy and catching the bus
Speaker 1: to affluent neighborhoods and selling candy. And I remember, I
Speaker 1: still remember my whole hook. Hello, my name is Rodney.
Speaker 1: I'm taking part in the program called Youth Opportunities A Unlimited.
Speaker 1: It's a program that helps keep young men like myself
Speaker 1: off the streets and out of trouble. Would you help
Speaker 1: out by buying box of candy and giving a small donation?
Speaker 1: And you know, me and a friend of mine, we
Speaker 1: made a lot of money doing that. Now we're gonna
Speaker 1: go down a different lane because certainly our guest today
Speaker 1: is on a similar journey, but in a different direction.
Speaker 1: So let's get into the conversation. Derek Kay's He's a
Speaker 1: restaurant owner, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He owns Big Dave's Cheese
Speaker 1: Steaks in Atlanta and Dinky's, which is a restaurant he
Speaker 1: launched with his partner Aisha Pinky Cole, who started Slotty
Speaker 1: Vegan this week we're going to be talking about finding
Speaker 1: your aspiration and entrepreneurship. Welcome to Positively gam Derek, and
Speaker 1: congratulations on your new baby girl. Thank you for having
Speaker 1: me such a blessing. Yeah, we're excited to talk to
Speaker 1: you because my husband is he's an entrepreneur as well,
Speaker 1: so I was I really wanted him to join us
Speaker 1: for this conversation. So what Before we get started, I
Speaker 1: need to ask you about the Essence cover that you
Speaker 1: did with Pinky, because you know, I was blessed to
Speaker 1: be able to do an Essence cover with my daughter
Speaker 1: and granddaughter, and I mean it was a phenomenal experience
Speaker 1: and I just felt, oh wow, this is It was
Speaker 1: an iconic moment for me. So how did it feel
Speaker 1: for you and Pinky? It was so real to be honest,
Speaker 1: because you know, if you make it to the cover
Speaker 1: of Essence, it's like legendary, So absolutely entrepreneurs where it
Speaker 1: ain't a celebrity figure. You know, it's two people that
Speaker 1: really you know, believing in the community and you're getting
Speaker 1: recognized through essence. Through that, it was an epic So
Speaker 1: it was like feeling you know what I'm saying, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure, and then you're doing it with you know,
Speaker 1: your partner, you know. Yeah, yeah, it was exciting, I'm sure.
Speaker 1: So I heard you were originally from Philly. Yeah, West
Speaker 1: Philadelphia born and raised. Okay, so what brought you to
Speaker 1: Atlanta at what inspired you to start Big Dave's Cheese Steaks.
Speaker 1: So back in the nineteen ninety six, my grandparents moved
Speaker 1: back south to Athens, Georgia. So I used to come
Speaker 1: back and forth, you know, for the summertime. And then
Speaker 1: in two thousand and one, you know, I started getting
Speaker 1: a little travel going to Old Brook High School, and
Speaker 1: my mom my dad was like, you're going, and so
Speaker 1: we all got sent to you know, to I got
Speaker 1: sent to Athens, Georgia. I graduated from Overbrook in two
Speaker 1: thousand and five, so I'm an alumni Brook High School.
Speaker 1: But um, my dad was my biggest inspiration of my
Speaker 1: my company because before he passed away from lung cancer,
Speaker 1: you know, when he was on his death I promised
Speaker 1: him that I would get out the streets and changing
Speaker 1: my life and do what I need to do to
Speaker 1: you know, represent our family the right way and bring
Speaker 1: our generational curses. And I'm doing just that, you know
Speaker 1: with my brain. And it's actually helped me mature along
Speaker 1: the way. So, you know, me taking my Philly flavor,
Speaker 1: pittting it down into Atlanta, Georgia, being able to show
Speaker 1: people that I got the real chief stay outside the
Speaker 1: Try state and it's never been done. And I'm making
Speaker 1: a history. So it's a good villain. Yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1: What's the meaning behind the name though? So the meaning
Speaker 1: is my father, My father was Big Dave. I felt
Speaker 1: if I you know, I honored after him. It's like
Speaker 1: my father name still lives on forever, and now I
Speaker 1: did just that so that he didn't go on his
Speaker 1: name still carrying on through his his his boy legacy. So, Derek,
Speaker 1: did you always want to be an entrepreneur? Hey man?
Speaker 1: You know, coming from Philly, you always entrepreneur. Now, you know,
Speaker 1: I tell people I didn't know. I just was a hustler.
Speaker 1: So I knew I wanted better for myself. You know.
Speaker 1: I used to sit around on the nere but block
Speaker 1: so I played basketball, But I always just wanted to
Speaker 1: be somebody. I knew. I was a vessel. I knew
Speaker 1: guy bring me in as well to carry on my
Speaker 1: beliefs and my wants in my life to show that
Speaker 1: you could do it too, And that's why I've really
Speaker 1: been my whole life. I've been a big dreamer. I
Speaker 1: always told people, oh man, I'm gonna be this. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be that, you know, And I worked and talk
Speaker 1: myself into that. Think the power of tongue is very
Speaker 1: important because you speak it, you're gonna live it. And
Speaker 1: if you live it, you can seek it. So you're
Speaker 1: gonna keep on moving to your mission. I agree wholeheartedly,
Speaker 1: and my path was similar to yours. Can you share
Speaker 1: your experience with starting your business? Oh man, it was
Speaker 1: a roller coaster ride, so to be honest, When I
Speaker 1: came back to Atlanta in two thousand and fourteen after
Speaker 1: my my father passed away, I just really ain't know
Speaker 1: what I wanted to do. I was trying to get
Speaker 1: in the real estate game, and then you know, I
Speaker 1: started losing money not knowing what I was doing, and
Speaker 1: I said, you know what, I'm gonna open up a restaurant.
Speaker 1: But before I did that, it was called Days Philly
Speaker 1: What Ice? I used to sell What are Ice? Nobody
Speaker 1: Atlanta knew what it was, so I can't get nobody
Speaker 1: to walk through the door. And I never got discouraged.
Speaker 1: But I started to, you know, feel like a lonely
Speaker 1: person on that island. You know, I'm this Philly guy.
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna come here and start making
Speaker 1: a bunch of money, and I can't get nobody walk
Speaker 1: through the door. And one day my blessing was Eve
Speaker 1: walking through that front door, you know, the rapper Eve.
Speaker 1: She said, if you wil me and this chief steak
Speaker 1: is good, I'm gonna put it on all my social
Speaker 1: media networks. And she and let me tell you, I
Speaker 1: made that chicken steaks like my life depended on it
Speaker 1: because I was you did money, so you were already
Speaker 1: doing cheese steaks, though no, I literally jumped into this,
Speaker 1: like I grew up in the kitchen with my grandfather.
Speaker 1: So my grandfather is the biggest part of my cooking
Speaker 1: experience because when I moved to Athens, he said, listen,
Speaker 1: if you don't go to church with me on Sundays,
Speaker 1: you gotta finish off my Sunday dinners. So he taught
Speaker 1: me how to make spices. I know, I'm not to
Speaker 1: make any dishtion me coming from Philly. You know, I
Speaker 1: ate a cheese steak in Atlanta, and I said, oh,
Speaker 1: this ain't real. I knew my lane I was gonna
Speaker 1: jump in. So my blessing was I know how to
Speaker 1: make season and like, I know how food is gonna
Speaker 1: taste before it actually get cooked into the food. I know,
Speaker 1: I want to hit your raw tongue and that's my
Speaker 1: gift and that's how I really was able to, you know,
Speaker 1: make my brain grow. But in two thousand and eighteen,
Speaker 1: I was represented in Georgia to represent for the Sandwich
Speaker 1: Competition while I ring top ten in the world on
Speaker 1: a barbecue grill where I was disadvantaged and everything, and
Speaker 1: I still did that. So I feel like in life,
Speaker 1: you take the obstacles with you know that's given to you,
Speaker 1: and you give it you all you know, and you
Speaker 1: give it everything, and you won't feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: you fell short. And that's what I did. You know.
Speaker 1: What what I really like to is that you know,
Speaker 1: you said you started with the water ice and it
Speaker 1: didn't work, you know what I mean? And sometimes you know,
Speaker 1: that's part of entrepreneurship. Sometimes you're not successful in everything
Speaker 1: that you know you do. I really like that because
Speaker 1: sometimes you start a business and you're not always going
Speaker 1: to be successful. But it's important that people know that
Speaker 1: you don't have to give up. You just kind of Okay,
Speaker 1: this is not working. Let me figure out what else
Speaker 1: we're gonna do or what else I can do. And
Speaker 1: I think that Rodney, you can speak on that as well. Rodney,
Speaker 1: because you know, in your entrepreneurial journey, you've had a
Speaker 1: couple of businesses that you've had that didn't always pan
Speaker 1: out the way you thought, but you kept going. Many
Speaker 1: I've had I've reinvented myself so many times I'm not
Speaker 1: even you who I am anymore. But now you're still
Speaker 1: going forward, you know. I tell people, just finish your race,
Speaker 1: no matter what that races, Just keep on moving your
Speaker 1: feet and you're gonna get to the end of that race.
Speaker 1: And how I started various businesses like you, and they
Speaker 1: didn't work out, but I just, you know, kept, you know,
Speaker 1: I persevered, and I finally found my niche and I've
Speaker 1: been doing well for the last probably twentysomething years. So
Speaker 1: tell people what you do, babe. So I own several
Speaker 1: mental health agencies. I also am opening up a psychiatric
Speaker 1: rehabilitation program with my youngest daughter to help her on
Speaker 1: that entrepreneurial journey. And create that generational wealth for my
Speaker 1: kids as well. So Positive Pathways is a mental health
Speaker 1: agency that provides residential housing for people with developmental disabilities
Speaker 1: or intellectual impairment. We all so provide job placement, support, staffing.
Speaker 1: We do wrap around services, so we have psychiatrists, therapy, nursing, medical,
Speaker 1: pretty much anything a person needs to thrive in life,
Speaker 1: then we provide that for them. Yeah, but most of
Speaker 1: the individuals that we have at Positive Pathways are you know,
Speaker 1: pretty high functioning people. They can navigate in the community,
Speaker 1: they can speak to their needs and wants, so we're
Speaker 1: not trying to run anyone's life, though. I'm kind of
Speaker 1: a voice for the voiceless because this is kind of
Speaker 1: a population that people don't think much of it does.
Speaker 1: I also am opening up a psychiatric rehabilitation program with
Speaker 1: my youngest daughter to help her on that entrepreneurial journey
Speaker 1: and and create that generational wealth for my kids as well.
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, and that's what I hear that you're
Speaker 1: trying to do as well, Derek, and I really love
Speaker 1: that about you, know, this journey that you both have
Speaker 1: been on because I really feel like kind of back
Speaker 1: in the day when we were growing up, like my
Speaker 1: mother pushed us to all go to college, and then
Speaker 1: it was kind of like get a good job, go
Speaker 1: to college and get a good job, or start a career,
Speaker 1: but not necessarily your own business. That that's a whole
Speaker 1: different mindset. And I think it's really important when you're
Speaker 1: talking about generational wealth because I became a nurse. I
Speaker 1: loved my career, but that was not a career that
Speaker 1: was going to provide generational wealth for my family. So
Speaker 1: you know, that's not always the path for everyone. But
Speaker 1: I really love that that you both of you have
Speaker 1: kind of focused on that and that has been your goal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because what I try to teach people is it's okay
Speaker 1: to you know, no matter how old you are, the
Speaker 1: mistakes you made, as long as you still got reference.
Speaker 1: But they still do something. And I watched my parents,
Speaker 1: my grandfather, they always blew collar workers and left there.
Speaker 1: You know, we didn't have much left behind. So I'm
Speaker 1: trying to change that trajectory and just say, okay, well
Speaker 1: I'm now using my mental my brain more so in
Speaker 1: building you know, our generational wealth that way, so that
Speaker 1: when I'm dead and gone, i leave resources. That's the
Speaker 1: main thing that we could get everybody think about just
Speaker 1: the money aspect, but the resources is bigger than the
Speaker 1: money because that's relationship building. That's saying, Okay, I'm leaving
Speaker 1: something behind so you can have this resource to be
Speaker 1: able to get to the next level. So what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to do for my family, I'm starting a program
Speaker 1: if you hold at three point two three point five
Speaker 1: g p A well, provide scholarship for you to go
Speaker 1: to college once you graduate high school so that you
Speaker 1: don't have to take out financial aid or government loans.
Speaker 1: How can I jump above the gun when I'm already
Speaker 1: a couple hundred thousand and that you know, when I'm
Speaker 1: getting a job thousand dollars a year. Come on, that's
Speaker 1: not it's not really gonna pick me and its situation
Speaker 1: where I could be a Boston break generational curses. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna provide the resources first so that we can
Speaker 1: break our generational curses that way, So that now you
Speaker 1: can stand on your own tintoes and don't say, Okay,
Speaker 1: I need this person to give me anything. No, they
Speaker 1: gave me a resource and that's more important. Wow, that
Speaker 1: is a really good point. I love that. And that's
Speaker 1: another way for you to expand or or market your
Speaker 1: business as well. Now I know, you know, you said
Speaker 1: Eve came into the restaurant and promoted it on social media,
Speaker 1: But what other things did you do to grow the
Speaker 1: brand and have it become more popular? To be honest,
Speaker 1: I just was like very consistent at the time. A
Speaker 1: lot of the Philly rappers and producers as a like
Speaker 1: uh DJ Drama, Ian Kennon, like who's all of them
Speaker 1: was in the middle of, you know, building themselves. So
Speaker 1: I was able to you know, come to the studios
Speaker 1: and be around that culture and sell them food like okay.
Speaker 1: So I was able to start, you know, the brands start,
Speaker 1: you know, getting out there and getting popular. But I
Speaker 1: think more so, you know, it was the relationship building
Speaker 1: that I was making in my hard work. I think
Speaker 1: anybody that was following my stories team out to Nascity
Speaker 1: and my home ground, how bad I wanted to drink
Speaker 1: to really work, and you know, me having forty some
Speaker 1: tattoos on my body, being a black man, I looked
Speaker 1: just like them. So I was able to represent our
Speaker 1: culture and in another way in business and didn't have
Speaker 1: to be an athlete or you know anything of that nature,
Speaker 1: but it wanted up making me philanthropists do it. So
Speaker 1: I didn't know I was gonna be doing this already,
Speaker 1: got to start written from me. There you go, there
Speaker 1: you go. So when did you know it was the
Speaker 1: right time to expand your business? The people? Baby do
Speaker 1: it right? My first I don't ready know the answer
Speaker 1: to these questions, but I know no, Like I started
Speaker 1: in this shell gas station, the seven hundred and something
Speaker 1: square feet and I started having two three hundred people
Speaker 1: in line, and the gas station on her like started
Speaker 1: pitting then on a pump, sing don't park. And I
Speaker 1: started having trouble with Walmart all those on everybody parking
Speaker 1: in the lots. So you know, I just you know,
Speaker 1: I said, you know what, it's time to go. So
Speaker 1: I went and built my my landmark location. That's fifty
Speaker 1: seven Foresight Street, that's right across street from Georgia State
Speaker 1: downtown Atlanta. And when I built that, I built the
Speaker 1: monster And from there it's been up. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm naturally known on off of my hard work and
Speaker 1: my philanthropy work, and I don't care about people. So
Speaker 1: it's a blessing to me. And let me tell y'all
Speaker 1: something I literally I had nobody that I wanted to know,
Speaker 1: really meet that bad That was my idol. And I
Speaker 1: got booked to do a job for Will at the
Speaker 1: other new movie premiere, and that was one of the
Speaker 1: things that I was waiting because we was on the
Speaker 1: front of the cover of Essence. We both from West Philly,
Speaker 1: we both graduated from Overbrook. So for me, that was
Speaker 1: real huge for me. You know, that was really like
Speaker 1: something that I wanted to happen, and it did. So
Speaker 1: dreams do come true. Absolutely, No, I just did the
Speaker 1: new one, the other new movie. He just came out
Speaker 1: with Richard. No, not King Richard. It was the Will
Speaker 1: that I forget, the new one that he just came
Speaker 1: out with. It's somebody that he just got through working on. No,
Speaker 1: somebody playing him. It was a fresh principle. Man. Oh
Speaker 1: bel Air Bellaire, got it, got it, got it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I did bell Aire. I was there, you know,
Speaker 1: I was supposed to just come, you know, as an act.
Speaker 1: And they started making the cheese sticks. I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: Will this cheese I got to jump in this thing.
Speaker 1: Gotta be right. I don't fit. Took the cheese sticks.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't care. Listening about my tea I
Speaker 1: don't play. That's amazing. Wow. So now what has been
Speaker 1: the most gratifying thing about becoming a restaurant owner and
Speaker 1: what is the most challenging aspect of it. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: start with the challenging and I'm gonna get you the
Speaker 1: glory of it. The challenging is making people understand who
Speaker 1: you are and what you're building. So when you were
Speaker 1: hired them, they really say that, Okay, I'm not working
Speaker 1: at a job. I'm actually getting a career. And a
Speaker 1: good part about that is the glamorous part of it
Speaker 1: is I actually am able to do that because some
Speaker 1: of these guys been with me five years, four years,
Speaker 1: and I've seen their maturity levels go up. I've seen them,
Speaker 1: you know, whether they knew they couldn't be corporate there
Speaker 1: on my corporate team now, so big changing lives. So
Speaker 1: when I opened up a big Dave's in these lower
Speaker 1: income communities, I'm hiring at least sixty people a location.
Speaker 1: So I'm taking sixty humans and saying, Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you a job. Now, I'm gonna give you a career.
Speaker 1: And a lot of these people, you know, only just
Speaker 1: had high school education just like me, and now they're
Speaker 1: doing just as well as somebody that you know, got
Speaker 1: bachelor's degree. You know, So you know, I provide life
Speaker 1: insurance for one K plans medical benefits then on everything
Speaker 1: with my brands. When you're working there, you know, you
Speaker 1: actually have a career and you can take care of
Speaker 1: your family. But the big beautiful thing, but the biggest
Speaker 1: thing of it all is keeping um employees. You know,
Speaker 1: even people understanding your mission in your dream because when
Speaker 1: you start scaling, you know, the culture has to stay
Speaker 1: the same, and that's what really people understand. Like having
Speaker 1: food is one thing, but the culture and why people
Speaker 1: really believe in your brand. You're selling the culture, You're
Speaker 1: selling who you are, so that gott to stay in
Speaker 1: the company. And you know, that's been you know, a
Speaker 1: challenge that I you know, I was fighting and now
Speaker 1: that I finally got that point on how to do it,
Speaker 1: so I feel real good about where I'm going with
Speaker 1: my brand. So it sounds like that your efforts to
Speaker 1: give back and uplift the community are really important to
Speaker 1: that brand. Oh yeah, that's what I'm hearing. Yeah, Like
Speaker 1: without that, I understand, I'll tell anybody you know, I
Speaker 1: got good food, but without that, I wouldn't be as
Speaker 1: big as I am now because in the pandemic, when
Speaker 1: everybody's you know, didn't pivot, didn't know what that that week,
Speaker 1: I gave out a thousand meals to the community. They
Speaker 1: was pulling up in their cars, just taking it like
Speaker 1: a drive through. I had my employees with like heater bags.
Speaker 1: They was passing the food out. And then I fed
Speaker 1: forty hospitals, two mills plus that whole month. Gave about
Speaker 1: twenty six thousand all of so the businesses around me
Speaker 1: can get read back open. So I think, you know,
Speaker 1: just the parts of the stuff, you know, through us
Speaker 1: giving back and letting people know who we really are.
Speaker 1: Like right now, man Pinky, we're doing a life insurance
Speaker 1: initiative where if you make thirty five thousand dollars a
Speaker 1: less than income, you can get a fifty thousand dollar
Speaker 1: life insurance and Credential has partner with us nationally. So
Speaker 1: we got this campaign going and we're just trying to
Speaker 1: get other people to jump in and understand the mission
Speaker 1: because a lot of people don't know life insurance is
Speaker 1: just not a life and the death thing is financial
Speaker 1: literacy so if you've got life insurance and your policy, girl,
Speaker 1: you can actually share with your loved ones. So we're
Speaker 1: teaching these young brothers that you know, don't wait till
Speaker 1: it's too late to something happen. Have yourself insure now,
Speaker 1: because it's a sad situation that if something happened when
Speaker 1: you got you know, your mother she got four or
Speaker 1: five kids and something happened to one of her children,
Speaker 1: that's a financial burden on her, you know, out here
Speaker 1: in the streets if she don't have a coverage because
Speaker 1: she got to figure out how to do it. And
Speaker 1: I'm tired of seeing go fund me. And yeah, I
Speaker 1: thought that was a really interesting camp pain because that
Speaker 1: was something that that I would never really think about.
Speaker 1: And when I first read about it, I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: life insurance. That's kind of like to pay for funerals.
Speaker 1: But I didn't think about the perspective of you know,
Speaker 1: helping or or providing for generational wealth and that you're
Speaker 1: leaving money for than those that are left behind. I
Speaker 1: didn't think about that aspect of it. Yeah, because we
Speaker 1: have multiple programs on it, like when you man, you
Speaker 1: don't know. I was about to jump out of my
Speaker 1: seat when you were sitting there and telling me what
Speaker 1: you do? You know, because right now we got health
Speaker 1: and wellness programs PTSD. I have PTSD. I come from
Speaker 1: West Philly. I hadn't seen so much stuff in my
Speaker 1: life growing up. You know, it's just human nature. But
Speaker 1: all of this stuff stops you before it's too late.
Speaker 1: So we're trying to have these programs teaching these brothers. No,
Speaker 1: it's okay if your mentor ain't there. It's okay to
Speaker 1: ask people for help. It's okay that you know, leading
Speaker 1: your hand and say, you know, I know the right way.
Speaker 1: I really need this. I'm really trying to get people
Speaker 1: to understand it's okay to ask for help because nobody
Speaker 1: got it all, ain't nothing out of all. Y'all need somebody.
Speaker 1: So you and Pinky also opened Dinkies together, a vegan
Speaker 1: GeSe stake place. What inspired this endeavor and did the
Speaker 1: two of you always want to work together? No? Actually,
Speaker 1: how Man Pinky met was funny story. We both had
Speaker 1: popular brands in Atlanta, and I used to be in
Speaker 1: the studio and they used to be like man girl,
Speaker 1: she got lines like you, if not more, I said,
Speaker 1: nobody got lands me, and then I actually seen it,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, man, when she's selling honestly, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I tell people George Floyd a situation, no sad situation,
Speaker 1: but it was a vessel to so many other things
Speaker 1: in the world. Because when my windows got broke out
Speaker 1: in the riots, Pinky reached out to me um and
Speaker 1: asked me that I need help, and I was like, now,
Speaker 1: I don't need no help, but she was like, well,
Speaker 1: let's link up. So we linked up and we really
Speaker 1: just jumped right into trying to help the community. And
Speaker 1: I was like, man, I met me. I don't care
Speaker 1: if you know a person five minutes, you know they
Speaker 1: so you know they hear, if you know, if you've
Speaker 1: seen you. I felt like I was looking at my
Speaker 1: own self in the shadow. It scary, like everything my wants,
Speaker 1: my dreams, my beliefs, everything community. So I don't really
Speaker 1: have a relationship partnership. I tell people, like, my relationship
Speaker 1: with her is deeper than just us being you know,
Speaker 1: boyfriend girlfriend, Like we really got something special and we
Speaker 1: really want to take over the world together. So man,
Speaker 1: that is a beautiful thing. I'm just grinning from ear
Speaker 1: to ear and listening to that especially because you know
Speaker 1: you're selling meat and Pinky is big and like it's
Speaker 1: just an amazing It just sounds like it's a great journey.
Speaker 1: I just and I want the listeners to know that
Speaker 1: we actually wanted to have both of you on. But
Speaker 1: you know, Pinky just you know, just had a beautiful
Speaker 1: baby girl, so it wasn't the right time for her.
Speaker 1: But maybe we'll have you guys back at a later time.
Speaker 1: But that partnership just really just sounds really strong and
Speaker 1: it just sounds like a blessing. But I gotta babe,
Speaker 1: who do you think? Who do you think has the
Speaker 1: last word? The s they collaborate? You think they collaborate, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think they. I think it's at think he might
Speaker 1: have pent in that though. So it's more like it's like, alright,
Speaker 1: so I know one of my strong points and I
Speaker 1: know where her strong points. So we use each other
Speaker 1: and we're able to collab and make it right. But
Speaker 1: our biggest thing was never know because you made the
Speaker 1: comment because everybody you know say, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: vegan and she is. But what's more important than human
Speaker 1: life when you out here attecking and that's what we know.
Speaker 1: We're on we want to went to say so. And
Speaker 1: then on top of that, I was able to, you know,
Speaker 1: be with somebody that was eating healthier, so I started
Speaker 1: looking at options that was better for me. So you know,
Speaker 1: it was a blessing all the way around. So I'm
Speaker 1: happy right now. You know, I got three beautiful girls.
Speaker 1: I got one boy on the way, my first boy,
Speaker 1: and I can't wait to see him because I didn't
Speaker 1: think I can make boys, So big blessing for me. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm a girl maker to Derek. So got the new
Speaker 1: queens for sure. So do you have any advice for
Speaker 1: people wanting to open up their own restaurants or who
Speaker 1: want to be entrepreneurs? Don't have no restaurants, It's like no, no,
Speaker 1: but you don't want the competition. You don't want to
Speaker 1: eat or really give it to y'all like straight so
Speaker 1: and and normal businesses. You might have maybe percent profit margence.
Speaker 1: You have percent in the restaurant not to make any
Speaker 1: mistakes on your bottom line to make money. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it's a real tdous business. But not only that, you're
Speaker 1: dealing with so many different people and there's so many personalities.
Speaker 1: If I didn't love what I do and love people
Speaker 1: and love the energy I get for myself out of it,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't do it. So I think, if you're gonna
Speaker 1: get in the restaurant business, don't get in it just
Speaker 1: for money. Years a lot of money in the restaurant
Speaker 1: Business's not saying that, because you can scale your brand
Speaker 1: and you can make millions of dollars. And that's that's
Speaker 1: the evidence, the part where really enjoy doing it and
Speaker 1: coming home at night you lay your head on the
Speaker 1: pillar and wake up in the morning and say, I'm happy.
Speaker 1: You gotta really love what you do. And that's in
Speaker 1: any business in the world no more. Because anybody start
Speaker 1: making money, you're gonna get used to the money. Once
Speaker 1: you get used to it, all of us humans, you
Speaker 1: get the bigger bag, Get the bigger bag, get used
Speaker 1: to that bag. But in your dream and what you're doing,
Speaker 1: you gotta really want to do that, because you can't
Speaker 1: just do it for the money. So I would tell
Speaker 1: anybody that passionate restaurants spaces your passion. Jump in it.
Speaker 1: If you want to be a serial entrepreneur, jump in it.
Speaker 1: But you have to dedicate your time and your dignity,
Speaker 1: to your beliefs, to what you want with your life,
Speaker 1: for it won't happen no matter. I have to agree
Speaker 1: with that. And Rodney, I think that you can really
Speaker 1: speak to that because your business is something I would
Speaker 1: never I just would never engage in it. Speak on
Speaker 1: that bag. And I know how passionate you are about
Speaker 1: what you do, and that is so important, particularly in
Speaker 1: your business. And I think there are a lot of
Speaker 1: people who do what you do that are in it
Speaker 1: for the money, and you can't be You have to
Speaker 1: put your clients first. A little bit about that, babe.
Speaker 1: Twenty seven years in and I still wake up every
Speaker 1: day feeling like I'm gonna make a difference in somebody's life. Wow,
Speaker 1: that's the energy and the commitment that I have to this.
Speaker 1: And you know, I mean, the bag is going to
Speaker 1: be there, but you gotta have that type of love
Speaker 1: and passion for it in order for to be happy
Speaker 1: with it. Yeah. So I remember going my first three years,
Speaker 1: I didn't make no money, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I just stuck with it. I had I got down
Speaker 1: to basically nothing and just figuring out how to pay
Speaker 1: my bills. But the thing is, if I never went
Speaker 1: through all of those roller coaster rides, I wouldn't been
Speaker 1: ready for the success I have right now. So any entrepreneur,
Speaker 1: you know, we show our wins, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: We show our wins on the Graham or social media,
Speaker 1: but man our day to day, you know, we need
Speaker 1: to show more of that. And that's what I try
Speaker 1: to do to people, like I showed them like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I make a bunch of money, I have a lot
Speaker 1: of success, but it also can be taken away from
Speaker 1: me if I do the wrong things. That don't you know,
Speaker 1: continue to move forward because in the business you're trying
Speaker 1: to scale, you got to give a thousand percent every day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's the hit if. I mean, if it was easy,
Speaker 1: everybody would be doing it, right. But I think also
Speaker 1: for YouTube babe, you know, it's like what you do
Speaker 1: is you're providing a service, and I think people don't
Speaker 1: recognize how challenging it can be when you're dealing with
Speaker 1: the intellectually impaired. Your work is really a service to
Speaker 1: the community, and it certainly is not just about making money,
Speaker 1: and that's important for people to understand. Right Well, I
Speaker 1: mean my goal was to give back to the community.
Speaker 1: That's you know, I wanted to be in the helping profession,
Speaker 1: so that was part of it. Initially I didn't you know,
Speaker 1: I could do a lot of things that make money,
Speaker 1: but it was about giving back and being, you know,
Speaker 1: to be impacts. That's why I tell people like, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of people out here that has no money
Speaker 1: and doing well, but what impact are you? May in
Speaker 1: a difference with where you when you got the ball
Speaker 1: in your hands, like who are you impacting? To do
Speaker 1: better and bring them up, Because at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, once you got everything you need and everything
Speaker 1: you want, you can't just sit on it and don't
Speaker 1: share the information. If you ain't gonna get nobody no money,
Speaker 1: at least give them the information, give him the game,
Speaker 1: and if they don't want it to receive it, then
Speaker 1: you leave that on them. But I don't want people
Speaker 1: around me just to depend on me. I want builders.
Speaker 1: I want people to be creators. So I want to
Speaker 1: be able to say I want to be around people
Speaker 1: smarter than me. I can learn off of you, you
Speaker 1: can learn off of me. So I think that's we're
Speaker 1: moving forward in this generation. We need to push more
Speaker 1: of a stead of people just wanted to be this
Speaker 1: one thing, and I'm absolutely push that the best way
Speaker 1: I can. Absolutely What other goals do you have? Are
Speaker 1: you hoping to achieve it in the future, Derek, So
Speaker 1: for when I'm gonna keep on, you know me, gonna
Speaker 1: keep on going on with the Life Insurance Initiative. I'm
Speaker 1: about to open my third location or this summer in Jonesboro, Georgia.
Speaker 1: Then I'm leaving the States so I don't over saturate
Speaker 1: the market because I got out of traffic and eight
Speaker 1: rows in the market. My seasonings. I'm gonna write a book, documentary.
Speaker 1: I gotta have a whole lot of list of things
Speaker 1: I want to hit them with, but we're gonna take
Speaker 1: it one time at a time so that it could
Speaker 1: be you know, like I said, everything I do is
Speaker 1: a thousand percent. I wanted to be the right way,
Speaker 1: not rush just to be in the media. I want
Speaker 1: to give his people, you know, the real patient days,
Speaker 1: the right way. So you can understand this young brother
Speaker 1: really got it out the money and came from nothing.
Speaker 1: I really skipped a lot of things to get here,
Speaker 1: and I'm blessed from that. And that's my mission, you
Speaker 1: know that I'm on and by the end of it,
Speaker 1: all My ending dream is for people to really know
Speaker 1: me around the world, see my restaurant everywhere, and I'd
Speaker 1: be a real impact to all the communities. That's all
Speaker 1: I really care about, you know. I feel like, you know,
Speaker 1: God already gonna bless me with the money aspect of it.
Speaker 1: That's something I don't worry about. I'm more so worried
Speaker 1: about people really believing in my change making that I'm
Speaker 1: trying to do for them. That's all. Well, Rodney, and
Speaker 1: I want to know if you're bringing a big Dave's
Speaker 1: cheese steak to Baltimore. Hey, you know what's OK, California,
Speaker 1: I'm coming to Baltomore because listen, I did a pop
Speaker 1: up in Baltimore. Man, it was probably two thousand people
Speaker 1: through that day that came through there. I was like
Speaker 1: the East Bottomore. The lines was so long. Yeah, let
Speaker 1: me know what you want to do in the l
Speaker 1: A for sure, for sure. Yeah. I went to school
Speaker 1: in Philly, so I'm familiar with the Chief Steak game
Speaker 1: in Philly. Yeah. Now were Baltimore. We love we love
Speaker 1: a good cheese steak here too. I got you. Just
Speaker 1: let me know what we could do, and I definitely
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about your line of work,
Speaker 1: so we could partner up on you know, some things
Speaker 1: you know in your field with mental health. That's awesome.
Speaker 1: And let's not leave Pinky out either, because we need
Speaker 1: Pinky to bring a slutty Vegan to Baltimore and l
Speaker 1: A become in both places. Pinky about to put him
Speaker 1: everywhere she coming. So that was time for the segment.
Speaker 1: Whendn't you like to know before you go, Derek, I
Speaker 1: have a couple of rapid fire questions I'd like you
Speaker 1: to answer. Firstly, what book are you currently reading? So
Speaker 1: I actually I would to say a book I like
Speaker 1: to like to research. So I'm studying Warren Buffett right now.
Speaker 1: And the reason, I mean, the reason why I'm studying
Speaker 1: Warren Buffett is because you know, I can only speak
Speaker 1: of people with color because I'm a black man. But
Speaker 1: when we came success, you know, we start getting money,
Speaker 1: we don't know how to stay leveraged. We gotta live
Speaker 1: above and beyond. And one it's a multi billionaire and
Speaker 1: he still lives in his home, you know. So I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to teach myself, you know, good habits so
Speaker 1: that I can have it later on. So I think
Speaker 1: the only way you could do that and see other
Speaker 1: people you know before you and put it forefront and
Speaker 1: really did that. And that's what I'm doing. So I
Speaker 1: just like the research. I go on Google, I watch
Speaker 1: YouTube and just hear stories and how people really made
Speaker 1: their fortune. I be Warren Buffett is. You know, he's
Speaker 1: one of the richest people in the world, and he's
Speaker 1: very stingy, black of a better word. He holds his
Speaker 1: money close to his chest. But everybody, his kids didn't
Speaker 1: even know he had money, like they you know, growing up,
Speaker 1: they didn't They found out he was a billionaire, and
Speaker 1: they were like, what aspect of it? But from the
Speaker 1: aspect of just like the knowledge of just being able
Speaker 1: to have such a fortune and know how to control it,
Speaker 1: because you know, we all are guilty of it. You know,
Speaker 1: when you're comfortable, you live more than you really have to. Honestly,
Speaker 1: you know, it's some things in this world that we
Speaker 1: don't need that we have, but we look we trick
Speaker 1: ourselves and say, well, we only live once. That's why
Speaker 1: I can't. That's you too. But also if you know
Speaker 1: that it's like this, I just said this to a
Speaker 1: friend of mine. He said, somebody asked him for fifteen
Speaker 1: hundred dollars, and I said, well, what was the cause?
Speaker 1: If the cause was worth the fifteen hundred dollars, that's
Speaker 1: probably better than your cause brought in the club. That's
Speaker 1: not gonna hurt you one bit, you know. So I
Speaker 1: look at it that way. And a lot of people
Speaker 1: you know that do business with me, far as accounts
Speaker 1: and everything like that, they don't see out on me
Speaker 1: a lot of things because I am ana giver. I'm
Speaker 1: not like a I'm not like a person that makes
Speaker 1: foodish decisions. But if I see somebody in time I
Speaker 1: need and really entice situations. Hard for me to walk
Speaker 1: away from that because I've been in situations at times
Speaker 1: where I couldn't feed myself. So I love what I'm
Speaker 1: hearing that you're time to learn and study and figure
Speaker 1: out how to make your wealth work for you instead
Speaker 1: of spending it on, you know, frivolous luxury items. I
Speaker 1: love that. Yeah. Absolutely. What is one thing you want
Speaker 1: to get off your chest? The one thing I want
Speaker 1: to get off my chest is for people to really
Speaker 1: understand that everybody's not gonna look like you. Some people
Speaker 1: are gonna be different for me. I'm not your every CEO,
Speaker 1: but I know I stand for the community. I know
Speaker 1: I stand for the culture. I know what I represent,
Speaker 1: I know my heart. So give people they chance and
Speaker 1: don't wait till they dead and going to get them
Speaker 1: they flowers like I want people to really understand that
Speaker 1: people got to stick together now days. What's a model
Speaker 1: that you live by? My motto I live by life
Speaker 1: has not attracted me. As a marathon. You gotta keep
Speaker 1: running your race until you really finished, until you know
Speaker 1: that your race is the race you rain and that's
Speaker 1: the mission, and you're happy about what you put out
Speaker 1: into the world. As long as you're happy with that,
Speaker 1: you can live with that. So run your own race.
Speaker 1: And you can find me at Instagram at Big Dave
Speaker 1: Cheese Steaks, Facebook at Big Dave Cheese Steaks. My location
Speaker 1: is fifty seven four Side Street, downtown of Laying in Georgia.
Speaker 1: My second location is in Doraville Street Road. Come check
Speaker 1: me out. I'm building my third location right now in Jonesboro.
Speaker 1: I'm happy. I'm excited. You know, the West Philadelphia kid
Speaker 1: is ready to go. So here's my takeaway from this conversation.
Speaker 1: And it's just one and it was really important to me,
Speaker 1: and that is that resources are off times more important
Speaker 1: than money. Let me say that again, resources are more
Speaker 1: in important them money. So if you can provide the resources,
Speaker 1: it's a great way to help someone get to the
Speaker 1: next level. And that's our show this week for Positively GAM.
Speaker 1: Thank you Derek and Rodney for joining me. You can
Speaker 1: follow me online at Gammy Narris and Rodney at I
Speaker 1: Am Rodney Narris. Also help us out by leaving a
Speaker 1: five star review on Apple Podcast and by hitting the
Speaker 1: follow button on I Heart Radio. Stay radifl we all.
Speaker 1: Positively gam is produced by Red Table Talk Podcast and
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Executive producers are Adrian Vanfield, Norris Valin,
Speaker 1: Jethro and Jada Pinkett Smith. Our audio engineer is Calvin Bailiff,
Speaker 1: and our associate producer is Irene Bischoff Burger. Our theme
Speaker 1: song is produced by d Beats.