11/25/2025
On November 11, 2025, we lost Heather Cook Adams far too suddenly in an auto accident. Heather wasn’t just a long-time employee of Big Daddy’s Eatery — she was family. She was our most senior team member, and for over five years she helped build Big Daddy’s into what it is today. This place carries her fingerprints in ways that can’t be measured.
Heather was a professionally trained chef, but her heart always pulled her to the front of the restaurant. She loved people. She loved our customers, and they absolutely loved her right back. If you were lucky enough to be greeted by Heather, you knew you were in good hands — she made everyone feel seen.
She was known for her honesty, her strength, and her generosity. Heather would put someone else’s needs before her own without hesitation. She would rather do without than see someone else do without. That’s just who she was.
And she could make us laugh like nobody else. I’ll never forget her first interview when I asked what she thought of the restaurant. Without missing a beat, she said:
“The only problem I see is that your name is outside on the sign and not mine.”
That line became part of our story — a running joke we all loved, because it was so Heather: fearless, funny, and full of spark.
She worked here so long that some customers even asked if she was “Big Mama.” She didn’t really care for the comment, but she’d laugh it off anyway — because Heather always found a way to keep things light, even when she didn’t have to.
Heather and I had our moments — sometimes we were like oil and water, disagreeing about restaurant things while everyone else quietly cleared the room. But even then, we were laughing on the inside. There was never a doubt that we cared about the same thing: this place and the people in it.
Heather was truly one of a kind. She will forever live on behind these walls at Big Daddy’s — in the way we serve, the way we laugh, and the way we look after each other.
Heather, you were loved so much — not only by me, but by just about everyone who met you.
Rest in peace, my dear friend. Until we meet again. 🕊️❤️