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Detroit-style pizza has gone from regional specialty to one of the most sought-after styles in the industry, and operators across the country continue to embrace its signature combination of crispy, caramelized edges and a light, airy interior.
At this year's Pizza Expo, that style once again took center stage when Frederico Santos, owner of Square Pizza Co. in San Diego, captured top honors in the Non-Traditional Division with his creative "Crown Vic(toria)" pizza, a pie inspired by the flavors and presentation of a charcuterie board.
A seven-time Pizza Expo competitor, Santos has spent years refining his craft while helping introduce Detroit-style pizza to Southern California diners. In this interview, he shares the inspiration behind his award-winning creation, why Detroit-style pizza continues to resonate with both consumers and operators, and how consistent tools—especially LloydPans—have helped him deliver championship-level results both on the competition stage and across his growing business.
What got you started in the competition side of things?
2018 was my first year competing at Pizza Expo, and I’ve been competing since so this was my seventh year competing. I attended Tony Gemignani’s International School of Pizza back in 2014 and I can easily say that he and his team are what inspired me to compete.
Your award-winning Crown Vic(toria) pizza took inspiration from charcuterie boards. What sparked that idea, and how did you translate it into a Detroit-style format?
Yes, I love a good charcuterie board and one day perusing some menus I had the idea of doing an almost entirely ‘pos-bake’ pizza that pretty much used the dough/cheese as the medium and all the rest was added on after the pizza came out. Detroit-style was the perfect canvas because it’s naturally made with a blend of cheeses, and I knew I could count on that frico to help offset all the creaminess and borderline wet consistency of the stracciatella. For my tests it all made sense, and I was glad to see it went as well as it did.
Detroit-style pizza has exploded in popularity. Why do you think consumers and operators continue gravitating toward the style?
It exploded because it is THAT good. It was just discovered and we all owe to Buddy’s for making it first and maestro Shawn Randazzo (RIP) for winning at Pizza Expo and putting it on the map! I was also fortunate to get a visit from Shawn back in the day and film a podcast of sorts. It’s not difficult per se to execute, I think it’s also a big factor as to why people tend to gravitate toward this style.
Did your pan make the difference during the comp?
LloydPans made it possible for just about anyone to have a go at it. No minimums, just about every pan size you could possibly need is available, extremely high quality and that factory non-stick finish is just soooo good! My oldest pans are almost 10 years in and I have not lost a single one of them! We are now at about 800 pans between both shops and adding more as we speak.
You’ve talked about balancing crispy edges with a light, airy interior. What’s the biggest challenge in getting that texture combination just right?
This is something we already do on a daily basis and was nothing new or even slightly outside the box so it was more trying to control things we could as far as time and temperature of the dough, then dialing the oven to what we are already used to and go from there. The idea was not to reinvent the wheel, just show up and do what we do at our shop but use creativity on what’s going atop of the pizza. We run electric deck ovens at our shops, and LloydPans have an incredibly consistent heat distribution when it goes on that hot stone, so a piece of advice is know your dough, your oven and your tools—especially your pans! They’re not all equal and don’t show up to find out at the worst moment.
Square Pizza Co. has built a strong following in San Diego. What has it been like building that business and educating customers about the style?
It’s been quite the ride lol. When we opened up in 2016 there were some people who thought I was full of it whenever I’d tell them that it was Detroit-style what they were looking at and would often come back with ‘there’s no such thing’ or ‘can’t be that good never heard of it’ combination of snarky remarks. But we were in it for the long run and kinda expected it, so we went to work and took the time to explain it to everyone and anyone who had questions. Now it needs no introduction and you can find it everywhere.
After your Pizza Expo win, how has the response been for your business, and what’s next for Square Pizza Co.?
It’s been fantastic! We’ve built a nice reputation of using quality ingredients and serving it with passion so when people found out about it and went to check out online reviews they were reassured that we care. What’s next is just keep plugging away and keep on building it up!