Nick Boyd and his lifelong friend, Chris Timmermann, co-created Big Belly Deli and quickly earned a reputation in the St. Louis area. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)

Hometown: Florissant, Missouri
Degree: BIS with emphasis in Entrepreneurship, 2018
Current position: Co-owner of Big Belly Deli
Fun fact: Boyd’s love of making food for his friends and family extends all the way back to his elementary school days.

Born with an entrepreneurial spirit, Nick Boyd has spent his life not only constantly thinking of ideas but searching out others who can help bring his innovative concepts to fruition.

“I’m going to do all of my research first, know exactly what I want,” Boyd says, “and then find the people that I know that can help make it happen.”

That’s how he developed his apparel company, Still Smilin’, out of high school, and how he co-founded both fROOT- Snacks Farms, a community garden, and his 5-acre garlic farm. His dreams about a sandwich collaboration with Chris Timmermann – they’ve been friends since middle school – gave birth to Big Belly Deli, the year-old restaurant in Florissant that has created a buzz on the St. Louis food scene.

Boyd credits the lessons he learned pursuing his Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis with strongly influencing his success as an entrepreneur. Boyd graduated in 2018, a year before UMSL started offering its entrepreneurship major in 2019, so he had the opportunity to essentially create his own tailor-made program. He did his research, found the UMSL courses that would be most influential for his future endeavors and charted his own path.

“I feel like I was really blessed,” he says. “I wrote up the degree I wanted for entrepreneurship. I have minors in business administration, marketing and business management because I was able to take in-depth courses in all of those areas. I feel like that really geared me up in every direction, and that’s exactly what I wanted.”

One of the UMSL entrepreneurial lessons: Find a unique element that sets your product apart.

The Dutch Crunch bread used for most Big Belly Deli sandwiches has become the shop’s signature element.

That’s exactly what Boyd and Timmermann have done with their delicious Dutch crunch bread – a San Francisco favorite virtually non-existent elsewhere in St. Louis. A limited supply is baked each day by the deli’s next-door neighbor, the longstanding Helfer’s Pastries. The Dutch crunch retains its crispy topping for about a day at most and selling anything less than the perfect bread just isn’t an option.

“I’ve been classifying it to the staff as more of a European style,” Boyd says. “Everything is fresh, and whenever you’re out, you’re out. But at least you know it’s fresh, and you’re enjoying it. That’s part of the experience, and we think that’s what brings people back, the fact that it sells out.” Lines often stretch out the door on weekends at Big Belly for the lunch rush.

Patrons have learned to arrive early or risk missing out, and that just isn’t an option, either.

This story was originally published in the fall 2024 issue of UMSL Magazine. If you have a story idea for UMSL Magazine, email magazine@umsl.edu.