Buddy's Pizza

Last updated

Buddy's Pizza
Buddy's Detroit Pizzeria.jpg
Buddy's Pizza restaurant Livonia Michigan.JPG
Buddy's Pizza in Livonia
Buddy's Pizza
Restaurant information
Established1946;78 years ago (1946)
Owner(s)The Jacobs Family
Food typeAmerican, Italian
Dress codeCasual (Everyone Is Welcome)
Other informationFounder, Gus Guerra
Website BuddysPizza.com

Buddy's Pizza is an independent pizza restaurant chain based in Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1946, the company has an annual revenue of US $30 million. The chain's 23 restaurants have over 700 employees. [1] Buddy's has been called one of the five best pizzerias in the United States by the Food Network. [2] It has a bocce ball league that plays every Saturday morning at its original Conant Street location.

Contents

Cuisine

The restaurant serves Detroit-style pizza baked in blue steel pans. In addition to pizza, Buddy's serves sandwiches, soups, pastas, salads, Sanders Hot Fudge Sundaes, and chicken tenders.

History

Buddy’s Rendezvous was opened in 1936 by Gus Guerra on Conant Street in Detroit as a Blind Pig . It wasn’t until 1946 when Buddy’s Rendezvous created the Detroit Style Pizza that it was a success. Circa 1972, William “Billy Jacobs purchased Buddy’s pizza because his wife, Shirlee Jacobs, liked the pizza. Their son, Robert Jacobs, took over the business and expanded it significantly before selling to a private equity group Capital Spring in 2019. [3]

The restaurant expanded across Michigan and currently has 23 restaurants. [4] The additional locations are Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Dearborn, Downtown Detroit, Farmington Hills, Grand Rapids, Grosse Pointe, Lansing, Livonia, Novi, Plymouth, Portage, Royal Oak, Shelby Township, Warren and Woodhaven. [5]

In 2022, the restaurant chain opened two more locations, Okemos, Michigan [6] and Clarkston, Michigan. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansing, Michigan</span> Capital city of Michigan, United States

Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan and the most populous city in Ingham County. It is mostly in the county, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making it the sixth most populous city in Michigan. The population of its metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was 541,297 at the 2020 census, the third largest in the state after metropolitan Detroit and Grand Rapids. It was named the new state capital of Michigan in 1847, ten years after Michigan became a state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pizza Hut</span> American multinational restaurant chain

Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldwide as of 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingham County, Michigan</span> County in Michigan, United States

Ingham County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 284,900. The county seat is Mason. Lansing, the state capital of Michigan, is largely located within the county. Lansing is the only state capital in the United States located in a county of which it is not also the seat of government. The county is home to Michigan State University, Lansing Community College, and the Class A minor league baseball team Lansing Lugnuts. Ingham County is included in the Lansing–East Lansing, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is considered to be a part of Mid Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Market</span> Chain of American fast casual restaurants

Boston Market Corporation, known as Boston Chicken until 1995, is an American fast casual restaurant chain headquartered in Golden, Colorado. Since 2020, it has been owned by the Rohan Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domino's</span> American multinational pizza restaurant chain

Domino's Pizza, Inc., commonly referred to as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960. and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware-domiciled and headquartered at the Domino's Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor Township, near Ann Arbor, Michigan. As of 2018, Domino's had approximately 15,000 stores, with 5,649 in the United States, 1,500 in India, and 1,249 in the United Kingdom. Domino's has stores in over 83 countries and 5,701 cities worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meijer</span> American hypermarket chain

Meijer Inc. is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwestern United States. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 259 stores are located in Michigan; the others are in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The chain is ranked by Forbes as the 14th-largest private company in the United States, and is the country's 21st-largest retailer by revenue as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papa Gino's</span> Restaurant chain based in Dedham, Massachusetts

Papa Gino's, Inc. is a restaurant chain based in Dedham, Massachusetts, specializing in traditional thin crust pizza along with pasta, subs, salads, and a variety of appetizers. As of 2023, there are 79 Papa Gino's locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Caesars</span> American multinational pizza chain based in Detroit

Little Caesar Enterprises Inc. is an American multinational chain of pizza restaurants that was founded in 1959. Little Caesars is the third largest pizza chain by total sales in the United States behind Pizza Hut and Domino's. It operates and franchises pizza restaurants in the United States and internationally in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The company is owned by Ilitch Holdings, and headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coney Island (restaurant)</span> Type of American restaurant

A Coney Island is a type of restaurant that is popular in the northern United States, particularly in Michigan, named after the Coney Island hot dog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LaRosa's Pizzeria</span> American pizzeria chain

LaRosa's Pizzeria is a chain of pizzerias serving neighborhoods throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. It was founded in 1954 by Donald "Buddy" LaRosa, along with partners Richard "Muzzie" Minella, Mike Soldano and Frank "Head" Serraino. Originally called Papa Gino's, LaRosa later bought out his partners, and changed the name to LaRosa's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twelve Oaks Mall</span> Shopping mall in Michigan, United States

Twelve Oaks Mall is a shopping mall with over 180 stores which is located in Novi, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The mall features anchor stores JCPenney, Macy's, and Nordstrom, with two vacant anchors previously Lord & Taylor and Sears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Lakes Crossing Outlets</span> An enclosed shopping mall in the city of Auburn Hills, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit

Great Lakes Crossing Outlets, formerly Great Lakes Crossing, is a shopping mall in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, United States. The site of the mall was originally to have been occupied by a different mall called Auburn Mills, which was never built due to financial issues of its intended developer, Western Development Corporation. Great Lakes Crossing was built on the site and opened in 1998. Constructed and owned by Taubman Centers, Great Lakes Crossing Outlets is the largest outlet mall in the state of Michigan. It features 185 stores, with anchor stores including Burlington, Bass Pro Shops, TJ Maxx, and Marshalls; other notable attractions include a 1,000-seat food court, a 25-screen AMC Star movie theater, Round1, Legoland Discovery Center, and Sea Life Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olga's Kitchen</span>

Olga's Kitchen is an American chain of Greek-American family restaurants located primarily in the U.S. state of Michigan, founded by Olga Loizon in 1970. The company is based in Livonia, Michigan, and currently has 26 locations: one each in Illinois and Massachusetts, and the rest in Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meridian Mall</span> Shopping mall in Michigan, United States

Meridian Mall is a super-regional shopping mall located in Okemos, Meridian Township, a suburb of Lansing, Michigan, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Detroit-style pizza</span> Rectangular pan pizza with a thick crust

Detroit-style pizza is a rectangular pan pizza with a thick, crisp, chewy crust. It is traditionally topped to the edges with mozzarella or Wisconsin brick cheese, which caramelizes against the high-sided heavyweight rectangular pan. Detroit-style pizza was originally baked in rectangular steel trays designed for use as automotive drip pans or to hold small industrial parts in factories. It was developed during the mid-20th century in Detroit, Michigan, before spreading to other parts of the United States in the 2010s. It is one of Detroit's iconic local foods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Halo Burger</span> Fast food chain based in Flint, Michigan, United States

Halo Burger, formerly known by its full name Bill Thomas' Halo Burger, is an American fast-food restaurant chain based in Genesee County, Michigan. Begun in 1923 as the original Kewpee location and separating from the Kewpee chain in 1967 with two locations, the chain has maintained a number of locations in and around Genesee County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lansing Mall</span> Shopping mall in Michigan, United States

Lansing Mall is an enclosed shopping mall located in Delta Charter Township, Michigan, United States, just outside Lansing, the state capital of Michigan. Opened in July 1969, the same year as its crosstown competitor Meridian Mall, Lansing Mall consists of 830,052 square feet (77,114.4 m2) of gross leasable area, with approximately 60 stores and restaurants, as well as a food court. Its original anchor stores were Wurzburg's, Federal's, and Montgomery Ward. Only three years after opening, Wurzburg's and Federal's were replaced by J.W. Knapp Company (Knapp's) and Robert Hall Village respectively. In 1979, the Robert Hall space was then vacated as part of an expansion project that also added a new mall wing ending in Hudson's, while J. C. Penney replaced Knapp's a year later and Mervyn's joined in 1987. The mall's anchor stores remained unchanged between then and the first decade of the 21st century: Hudson's was renamed to Marshall Field's, which itself later became Macy's, while the bankrupted Montgomery Ward and Mervyn's were replaced with Younkers and a Regal Entertainment Group movie theater. Following the closures of Macy's and Younkers, the mall's only operational anchor store is J. C. Penney. Other major tenants include Dunham's Sports, Barnes & Noble, a food court, and a 12-screen movie theater. The mall is managed and owned by Kohan Retail Investment Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuisine of Michigan</span> Cuisine of the Midwestern United States

The cuisine of Michigan is part of the broader regional cuisine of the Midwestern United States. It is reflective of the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the state, and draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Native North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happy's Pizza</span> American chain restaurant

Happy's Pizza is an American regional chain of restaurants, serving pizza, ribs, chicken, seafood, sandwiches, pasta and salad.

The presence of pizza restaurant chains has contributed to a significant increase in pizza consumption in Mainland China and Hong Kong. This also had an effect of introducing cheese as a culinary ingredient and everyday food in China, which was relatively uncommon in Chinese cuisine prior to the emergence of pizza chains. Pizza Hut opened its first store in China in 1990, and several pizza restaurant chains exist in China today.

References

  1. "Buddy's now offers e-mail on the side". The Detroit News . January 1, 2006. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  2. "Detroit's Buddy's Pizza turns 60". Pizza Marketplace. August 8, 2006. Archived from the original on December 17, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
  3. "CapitalSpring Completes Significant Investment in Buddy's Pizza to Accelerate Iconic Restaurant's Growth needed" (Press release). CapitalSpring. January 3, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2023 via Business Wire.
  4. "Buddy's Pizza to open its new Delta Twp. eatery for carryout June 1". Lansing State Journal . June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  5. "Locations". Buddy's Pizza. Archived from the original on June 28, 2020. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  6. "Former Burger King building in Meridian Township demolished to make way for Buddy's Pizza". WSYM News . July 6, 2021. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  7. DeVito, Lee. "Buddy's Pizza is opening two more Michigan restaurants in 2022". Metro Times . Detroit. Archived from the original on January 9, 2022. Retrieved January 9, 2022.

42°25′08.3″N83°03′50.7″W / 42.418972°N 83.064083°W / 42.418972; -83.064083