| Buddy's Pizza | |
| Current-Owner: | The Jacobs Family |
| Food-Type: | American, Italian |
| Dress-Code: | Casual (Everyone Is Welcome) |
| Other-Information: | Founder, Gus Guerra |
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.
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.
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]