With its grand opening on April 4, the new Buddy’s Pizza at 2010 W. Grand River Ave. in Okemos is looking for more employees.
“Hiring is ongoing, and we are still looking for plenty of help,” said General Manager Mike Wensel, who is looking for 30-35 to be servers, bartenders, bussers, hosts and kitchen staff. Training will begin March 21, but applicants are welcome to apply and join late. Previous restaurant experience is helpful but not required.
“Those that come through with prior experience, obviously have a little bit of a leg up because you kind of understand the nature of the beast of working in a restaurant, but we have plenty of people that this would be their first time working in a restaurant. And that’s why we have training set up,” said Wensel.
Francesca Vitale, a server at Buddy’s in Woodhaven, is excited to be in Okemos to train new employees.
“Buddy’s is truly more than a restaurant or a place of work, it truly is a family,” she said. “I have worked in the restaurant industry for a while and have worked at many restaurants, and I can honestly say that I’ve never had a job like Buddy’s. I would absolutely recommend working at Buddy’s to anyone that is interested in getting a job.”
She is also excited that the restaurant is expanding, but still stays true to its Detroit roots as the original Buddy’s Pizza was founded on Six Mile and Conant in 1946 and prides itself on having the original Detroit-style pizza.
“I’m so excited that Buddy’s is continuing to expand,” she said. “Buddy’s has amazing food and unique pizzas, but in addition to that I love that all of the Buddy’s locations represent Detroit. Detroit is an amazing place filled with so much culture, and I think that Buddy’s is one of the few chain restaurants that highlights all the amazing things that Detroit is filled with.”
The Meridian Township community is also excited to have a Buddy’s Pizza location so close to them, even those who have never tried the food before.
“I’m excited about Buddy’s coming to Meridian,” said Kyla Chamberlain, a MT native. “ I’ve never had their food but I’ve heard a lot of hype about it. There’s one on the westside of Lansing, and I’ve never been because it’s so far away.”
Wensel and the team at the Okemos location are excited to open the 21st location in the state of Michigan especially after businesses took a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve been working hard to get the word out to the community.
“We’ve been reaching out to those that drive kind of communities so like the business community we reached out to, we reached out to local schools, just to kind of generate some buzz,” said Wensel. “We also have stuff on Facebook and Indeed.”