Just a month after Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks closed its flagship location in downtown Atlanta due to a water main break and burst pipes, owner Derrick Hayes confirmed the restaurant won’t reopen.
Hayes was forced to shutter the eatery at 57 Forsyth St. NW in early June due to a water outage caused by multiple water main breaks across the city. Big Dave’s was supposed to reopen when water was restored, but a pipe burst in the building, flooded the space and caused extensive damage.
At the time, Hayes told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he was confident he’d be able to reopen soon.
But over the weekend, he shared in a video on Instagram that that wouldn’t be the case.
“We tried everything to figure out a solution to get the location back to the way it was,” Hayes told the AJC. “But seeing the damage and the amount of time and money it was going to take, and things we would have to go through, we just decided it had had its run.”
Hayes, who also owns metro Atlanta locations of Big Dave’s in Forest Park, Doraville, Lawrenceville and inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, said the closure was a big blow, both financially and emotionally.
The downtown restaurant is not only the most profitable of his restaurants but also the space that Hayes said he worked the hardest to acquire.
“It was special,” he said. “I worked so many years in my original Doraville location to get that downtown restaurant. Now I have to go find another (flagship) location. It’s going to be a big challenge. It’s like losing your first job.”
Downtown Atlanta Big Dave’s employees, who Hayes calls “my family,” will have the option of taking a position at another Big Dave’s location or taking a furlough until he secures a new space.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Hayes said he’s looking at storefronts that will conveniently serve the guests who patronized the downtown store.
“I’m looking for a place that will service the eastside, westside, the southside,” he said “I want to be in that middle corridor, and also be able to get that tourism business. I have to go create another landmark.”
While Hayes is staying busy with his other locations and working on franchising Big Dave’s in other states, he said he’ll be feeling the fallout from the downtown closure for some time.
“I’ve got other blessings going on, but the one that hurt is the one at home,” he said. “I’m just trying to figure out how to get that momentum I had in that downtown location somewhere else. It’ll be a challenge, but I’m up to the challenge. I’m just going to keep on going.”
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