OKEMOS, MI - As of today, Apr. 4 at 11am, the new Buddy’s Pizza location in Okemos is open for business.

As part of their ribbon cutting ceremony, the first 100 people in line received free Buddy’s Pizza for a whole year.

The new location will be Buddy’s Pizza’s 17th dine-in restaurant opening. While most of their locations are situated in Metro Detroit, this will be the second location in the Lansing area. When looking to expand, Meridian Township seemed like a perfect choice for the franchise.

“We love the Okemos area, it is a thriving community that’s growing, and just a community of fantastic folks,” Katy Dean, COO of Buddy’s Pizza, said.

Buddy’s Pizza is not new to the community, and already had an existing relationship with Haven House, an organization helping support homeless families. According to Dean, grand opening sales for the Okemos location will be donated directly to Haven House.

Buddy’s Pizza first opened its doors in 1946 and became the original creator of Detroit-Style pizza. The original location was at the corner of Conant and Six Mile, which is where they began repurposing borrowed pans from the auto industry to create their vision of the Detroit-Style category.

“It is a bit of labor of love product wise,” Dean said. “We make all of our dough from scratch, in house, everyday just as we did 76 years ago.”

Buddy’s Pizza is located in the lot previously occupying Burger King at 2010 W Grand River Ave, Okemos, MI.