B USINESS
What I’ve Learned Mike Davis OWNER, MIKE’S HOT WINGS & SUCH
Interview conducted by Stephanie Painter | Photography by Alex Ginsburg Photographics I’ve worked in food service since age 15. I was a regional manager at a casino when it closed, and I stepped out on faith. God opened doors and almost eight years later, here we are with two locations. I now have my own business in the same building where I managed Exlines Pizza years ago. It’s fulfilling to see customers come in and tell me about the great reviews they’ve seen on the restaurant. It tells me I’ve done what I was supposed to do as a business owner. I continue to push forward, provide a good quality product, keep the restaurants clean and enjoy the customers coming in. I love to do business in this city. It doesn’t matter about race or color because people here support one another. People in Germantown have proven to be a great asset to us and support us. ‘To give back to the community in which we do business’ is our business motto, either economically or by empowering through job opportunities. My goal is to get the young people of Germantown to know that we are hiring and looking for people to do a quality job. It’s been hard to be a minority business owner because funding opportunities are very limited. God has put stepping stones under my feet to enable me to continue to move in the right direction even in the midst of a pandemic. I admire my dad. He owned his own business and only had a third-grade education. I admired him for the commitment that he put into creating his own business and being successful with it for 40 years. There are 14 of us in the family. My sisters and brothers help out when we are shorthanded and help us get the job done. I admire David Boyd with Dbo’s Wings. I worked for him, and he showed me a lot with the business. When he started out, he couldn’t get proper financing, and through his persistence he was able to get his business going. You have to show up every day even when you don’t feel like it. The best professional advice I received is to continue to believe in myself, always keep God first and do my best for the public.
Germantown Magazine
23
