Buddy's Pizza photo
The website for Buddy's Pizza boasts of being "The Birthplace of Detroit-style Pizza." And as we all know, that means square pizza. It's a pizza style that took far too long to catch on around the world, but when it finally did, it really did in a big way.
You can find Detroit-style pizza anywhere from Brooklyn to D.C. to Toronto to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
So, is it sacrilege for Buddy's to be serving round pizza?
The Buddy's in Grand Rapids and Portage, outside of Kalamazoo, are now serving round pizzas known as "Rendezvous Rounds."
“Pizza should make people happy, and we were hearing and seeing in the feedback from our customers in West Michigan, many of whom may not have grown up with our Detroit-style square pizza, that they would enjoy more style options, sizes and price points in their pizza experience with us at Buddy’s,” Buddy's CEO Joe Dominiak said in a statement. “We are responding to that input, and we hope the addition of the Rendezvous Rounds menu is giving people just that…more to love about dining at Buddy’s Pizza.”
The private equity firm CapitalSpring bought Buddy's Pizza in 2018 from the Jacobs family, which bought it around 1972. Before that, the Guerra family ran it and started serving square pies in 1946 at the original shop on Conant Street in Detroit.
The website pridefully says:
In 1946, a new style of pizza was born at Buddy’s and it was different. Our one of a kind square pies are built by hand with the best ingredients. No shortcuts, just a stubborn belief in doing things right. We believe in creating good food that’s meant to be gathered ‘round – from family dinner, to date night, game night and everything in between. We’ve always had a way of turning strangers into friends and friends into family. We are The Original Detroit-Style Pizza.
