Detroit Style Pizza Competition Heating Up Between Chains

According to Wikipedia, Detroit-style pizza is a rectangular pizza with a thick crust that is crispy and chewy. It is traditionally topped with tomato sauce and Wisconsin brick cheese that goes all the way to the edges. These days with our pandemic and over eating it’s growing to be quite popular across the country.

HuffPost reports ,

Slice, an online pizza purchasing platform, says it experienced a 65% increase in Detroit-style pizza orders last year compared with 2019. And, a sure indication that there are dollars to be had in the dough, Pizza Hut even recently unveiled its own foray into the deep-dish square pizza business.

Detroit style pizza is actually a descendent of Sicilian style pizza. It was created by Gus Guerra, with its unique characteristics, the soft and airy square crust, it’s crunchy exterior, and the caramelized cheese that edges the pizza, are all created due to the deep pans Detroit style pizza is baked in.

What kind of pizza is the best? Michigan pizza makers are weighing in on this question. What has caused a stir among Detroit Pizza makers is the fact that Pizza Hut with over 7000 locations across the U.S. announced it is adding Detroit Style pizza to its menu, making local pizza makers not so happy. The biggest voice among those weighing in is the 19 restaurant chain Buddy’s Pizza, and they are being the loudest at critiquing Pizza Hut’s version.

WILX reports,

“If Pizza Hut’s take on Detroit-style pizza is the best they can do, then maybe they should stop doing impressions and stick to knock-knock jokes,” said Wes Pikula, chief brand officer for Buddy’s Pizza. “We laughed when Pizza Hut claimed ‘no one out pizzas the Hut,’ but when you try to ‘out Detroit’ Buddy’s, that gets the Motor City rumbling.” While a bit of razzing between companies has become more commonly accepted (and good-natured) in recent years, Buddy’s Pizza has used the opportunity provided by the drama to promote a COVID-19-related charitable endeavor.

Buddy’s Pizza has announced through the end of April, they will donate 100% of it’s profits on Goldbelly to the Barstool Fund, an organization helping small businesses who are struggling with Covid-19 financial impacts.