(WWJ) — Detroit is well known for many things. Just look at its nicknames — the Motor City, Motown, Hockeytown... the list goes on.
But it’s also earning quite the reputation for Detroit Style Pizza — and it’s only going to continue to grow.
Joe Dominiak, COO of Buddy’s Pizza — the creator of the original Detroit-style all the way back in 1946 at 6 Mile and Conant — says he’s got an eye on making Buddy’s a nationally recognized brand.
Sitting down for a wide-ranging conversation over a bottle of red wine with WWJ Newsradio 950’s Charlie Langton, Dominiak said Buddy’s has a 10-year goal of becoming “a $100 million brand” with their pizza being sold in all 50 states.
That would mean more than doubling the Buddy’s brand in a decade, but he thinks it’s attainable. Dominiak says Buddy’s hopes to have a franchisable economic model within the next three years.
That, coupled with an expanding consumer packaged goods model — Buddy’s is now selling frozen pizzas in grocery stores — Dominiak thinks it’s possible Buddy’s could one day make its way onto the New York Stock Exchange.
“I’m not saying the goal is to be on Wall Street, because that brings in its own inherent issues,” Dominiak said. “Then you have a bunch of shareholders that are dictating everything you do and how you do it and when you do it, then your whole business model becomes ‘what’s the next quarter’s results look like?’”
Langton, a noted wine connoisseur, bluntly pointed out to Dominiak that “you don’t have very good wine at Buddy’s pizza.”
Dominiak said that’s something he is working on improving.
“Currently we don’t. But the good thing about everything is we can get better and we can learn,” Dominiak said. “We are working with a few distributors to bring in a palette of wines that go across and we’ll also do some pairings and do some flights and really elevate the bar.”