Square Pie’s Detroit-style pizza ensures every slice has the crispy edge. | Photo courtesy of Daniel Beck.
Marc Schechter is approaching a bit of a crossroads.
The co-founder of the Square Pie Guys pizza chain, based in San Francisco, Schechter opened unit No. 5 in Palo Alto on Tuesday. No. 6 is scheduled to open in Walnut Creek, California, before the end of the year, taking the Detroit-style pizza brand from three to six in a year, all in the Bay Area.
Once those are up and running, Schechter said he plans to sit down with his leadership team to look at where to go from here.
Should they franchise? The brand is built on the quality of dough made in each restaurant, so that could be challenging.
Should they look for a strategic investor to help fund the next stage of growth from six to, say, 30?
“Or is this just a great brand that we leave alone?” he posed. “We’ll look at 2027 with all options on the table.”
It’s not a terrible place to be in, for a guy who was in software sales before he started making pizza at home. Schechter said he was seduced by an online pizza-making community that was one of the (arguably few) kind and helpful places to gather on the Internet in 2016. Schechter said he fell in love with the very basic act of making food for people.
The interior of Square Pie Guys Palo Alto, which opened this week. | Photo courtesy of Spencer Tsang.
It’s the classic story. First, he cooked for family and friends, and that lead to popups. Schechter began to develop a following. In 2017, he started working at some pizza concepts (Pizzeria Delfina and Pizzahacker).
“Those weren’t stages,” said Schechter. “Those were actual jobs. I just said, ‘Hey, I’ve never worked in a restaurant.’ And all those places were, like, ‘You know, we need people with a good attitude who are willing to show up on time.’ And that was me.”
Initially, Schechter was experimenting with all manner of pizza styles. Whenever he posted a square Detroit-style pie, a friend’s wife would troll him viciously (even pizza lovers can be haters). So Schechter launched a separate Instagram account called Square Pie Guy to post photos of his square slices in peace.
At the time, he was working on his Detroit pies at a wine bar, where he was doing a popup. A couple that planned to get married there came in for a tasting. They tried the Detroit pies and insisted he cater their wedding, which gave Schechter the opportunity to invest in the necessary pans for that uniquely crispy crust.
The wine bar popup became branded as Square Pie Guys. By 2018, Schechter and then co-founder Danny Stoller were shopping for leases. The first brick-and-mortar Square Pie Guys opened in 2019.
At the time, in the Bay Area, there wasn’t a lot of Detroit pizza. Famed pizza maker Tony Gemignani offered a Detroit-style among many other types of pizza at his North Beach restaurant Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, but Schechter said they really pioneered the square pie.
The restaurant features one size of pizza in an eight-by-10-inch pan, which feeds two and ensures everyone gets the crispy cheesy side bits.
Pizzas range in price from about $20 to $24, and there’s a build-your-own option, along with wings, salads and a list of dipping sauces, from Mike’s Hot Honey to cilantro-lime crema.
Schechter said he had the foresight to see an opportunity with delivery for Square Pie Guys early on, a move that was only accentuated when someone put the concept on the DoorDash marketplace without their knowledge.
A DoorDash driver would show up with a debit card and pretend to be a regular customer. When they learned of it, Schechter said they realized people were willing to pay $10 to $15 more than the actual price for their pies.
So Schechter said they did a deal with Caviar in 2019, “and that became a rocket ship.”
When the pandemic shutdown hit, Square Pie Guys was well-positioned. “We already had online ordering set up and processes in place,” he said. “We never really closed, except for one or two exposures in 2020. We just kept pushing out pizza.”
Units opened in Oakland (2021) and then on the waterfront in Ghirardelli Square (2022). They partnered with Local Kitchens doing licensed units out of the ghost kitchen-style food halls, which spread brand awareness. (The Palo Alto Square Pie unit open this week replaces the former Local Kitchens location there.)
Square Pie Guys offers one size that feeds at least two. | Photo courtesy of Spencer Tsang.
Off-premise (including takeout) continues to be no less than 50% of sales for Square Pie, and sometimes as high as 70%, Schechter said.
In 2022, however, Stoller and Schechter went their separate ways, with Schechter remaining as the Square Pie Guy, along with loyal friends and family that helped fund the growth so far.
All units are company-owned. And Schechter continues to flirt with offshoots with popups. There was a thin-crust and tavern-style pizza concept (Bar Pie Guys), and a New York-style concept (Sliced Pie Guys).
Schechter said he came very close to bringing one of them to Los Angeles, after he and his wife came down to help raise money for those impacted by the wildfires earlier this year.
He has also flirted with building a commissary kitchen to make the dough off-site, which would help scale growth. But Schechter said he decided it would be too expensive.
Now all dough is made on site in each restaurant, and the chain has created systems to ensure consistency is maintained, like water meters to measure temperature and weight specifically.
“It’s the quality that really sets you apart from the big brands,” he said.
Schechter said he’s trying to continuously create new opportunities so the company has options.
“I want to make sure the people who work here are paid well and have a bright future,” he said. “And the same for me.”
He declined to share a sales number, though he said, “We’re healthy. We’re happy with the top line and margins.”
When people ask about his plans for growth, he said the easy answer is to say Square Pie Guys will be the next big restaurant chain that will scale.
“But I have to remind myself that this is a really difficult business to do successfully,” he said. “I want to keep myself in check and not get too far over my skis.”
