Wait — These 8 Popular Restaurant Chains Are Actually From The Detroit Area?

Detroit is well-known as the largest city in Michigan. It's the birthplace of Motown Records and Ford Motor Co., earning it the nickname of "Motor City." But perhaps the city's greatest unsung history is its contribution to the world of food. Despite its name, one of the most popular regional hot dog styles actually hails from Detroit: The Coney Island Dog. The city also made its mark on the fast food world with its own distinct Detroit-style pizza, set apart by its deep-dish rectangular shape and crispy crust created in steel pans recycled from neighboring auto factories.

Detroit has also made its mark across the country with another contribution to the food world — restaurants. Several brands that began in the Motor City can now be seen across the country and beyond, giving the world at large a taste of Detroit. It's not just pizza and hot dogs, though. Some of these names might surprise you! Keep reading to discover the eight popular chain restaurants that unexpectedly have their roots in Detroit.

Today, Little Caesars Pizza is the third-largest pizza chain in the world, with restaurants in 28 countries and more than 4,000 locations in the United States alone. But way back in 1959, this chain started as just the dream of two newlyweds in the Detroit suburbs.

When Mike and Marian Ilitch opened the first Little Caesars in Garden City, Michigan, they couldn't have imagined how the brand would grow. Their 15-minute service was immediately a hit with customers, and they seized the opportunity to expand through franchising, with their first franchised location opening in Warren in 1962. The franchise model would enable the company's rapid expansion and continued success — in 2024, the company announced plans to open over 20 new U.S. restaurants in the coming year.

Despite its international success, Little Caesars has stayed true to its Detroit roots. In 2013, it became the first national pizza chain to offer Detroit-style pizza as a menu item nationwide. In 2017, the brand broke ground on its new global headquarters building in Detroit, awarding the bulk of its construction contracts to local firms, to invest in the community. The company also serves free pizza to underserved communities in its home city through its charity, Love Kitchen. Check out more surprising facts about Little Caesars.

Brothers Tom and James Monaghan purchased a pizza store called DomiNick's in the Detroit suburb of Ypsilanti in 1960. Their decision to rename it as Domino's, using a classic domino as the logo and checkered cabs as the delivery vehicles, would help to make it one of the most iconic food brands in the world.

Domino's rose to success by focusing its business model around delivery, using Tom Monaghan's unique insulated pizza box design to ensure customers received hot and fresh pies. The concept was extremely successful — by 1989, Domino's had opened 5,000 stores worldwide. Throughout the years, Domino's has introduced various non-pizza items to its menu, charting new territory in the pizza delivery space with wings, breadsticks, and pastas.

Today, Domino's operates in every U.S. state and territory, with a presence in over 90 countries around the world. Despite hundreds of recent Domino's restaurant closures overseas, the chain seems to be doing just fine. Its offices, once located above the original Domino's restaurant on Cross Street in Ypsilanti, are no longer housed in Detroit. Instead, since 1984, its global operations have been managed nearby in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Founded in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights in 1978 by brothers Eugene and John Jetts, Jet's Pizza has specialized in Detroit-style pizza from the start. Using the Jetts brothers' mother's sauce recipe, freshly mixed dough made from a proprietary flour blend, and custom-made special Detroit-style deep-dish pans made locally in metro Detroit, Jet's carved out a unique space in the pizza market.

Jet's prides itself on making Detroit-style deep dish a household name, and still uses its same original recipe today. Customers love the light and fluffy dough with its crispy exterior, but Jet's doesn't only offer Detroit-style — it now also serves up hand-tossed, thin crust, and New York-style pizzas, along with salads, breadsticks, and wings.

Today, Jet's operates about 450 restaurants in 23 states, 166 of which are in its home state of Michigan. The chain continues to grow through franchising, announcing its expansion into the western U.S. with 30 new locations in 2022, and promising more to come.

Hungry Howie's was born in 1973, from a former burger restaurant converted into a carryout and delivery pizza shop in the Detroit suburb of Taylor, Michigan. Founder Jim Hearn would later team up with one of his first delivery drivers, Steve Jackson, to expand the business. Though its pizza was popular from the start, the Hungry Howie's brand really took off in the 1980s when it introduced its now-famous flavored crust pizza. It was the first restaurant to widely offer this fun twist on classic pizza crust, and it was a hit. By 1995, the company had grown to 300 restaurants.

Today, Hungry Howie's still allows diners to customize their crust free of charge, with eight different flavors to choose from. It's also expanded its menu to include oven-baked subs, bread, salad, wings, rolls, and desserts. The Detroit-born brand now boasts over 530 locations across 21 states, almost 200 of which are in its home state of Michigan. As for the company's headquarters, Hungry Howie's is still a Detroit local. Its corporate offices are housed in the Detroit suburb of Madison Heights.

Born on a bustling corner of East Detroit in 1994, Happy's Pizza started out with a mission inspired by its home city: To provide great food and a local gathering place in underserved communities. It was the first fast food restaurant to offer delivery in Detroit.

Despite its name, the Happy's Pizza menu goes far beyond just pizza. With over 220 menu items, it also offers ribs, barbecue, sandwiches, fried chicken, seafood, and wings. In the mid-2010s, this restaurant chain was rapidly expanding with over 125 locations across the U.S., entering a range of new states including Georgia, California, Indiana, and Illinois.

The chain has since scaled back, but fans can still visit its remaining 50 locations across Michigan and Ohio. The brand remains committed to its mission of serving and giving back to inner city communities, including its hometown of Detroit, where it maintains over 30 locations in the metro area.

Olga's Kitchen originated in the 1960s as a way for Detroit resident Olga Loizon to help herself and her family reconnect with her Greek heritage. She combined traditional Greek souvlaki meat with a westernized bread recipe that the brand's slogan deems "the best bread on the planet." Combined with proprietary "Olgasauce," this unique sandwich was called the Original Olga, and is still a menu staple today.

Since then, the Olga's Kitchen brand has expanded to over 25 restaurants across Michigan, Ohio, and Illinois. It continues to serve a unique twist on classic Mediterranean dishes, from salads to spinach pie to peasant soup. Olga's also serves extended markets through virtual delivery-only locations hosted inside ten locations of fellow beloved Midwestern brand, Big Boy, with its iconic food mascot.

In her quest to open her first restaurant in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham all those years ago, Olga became the first woman to secure a small business loan at her local bank. To continue that legacy, the restaurant chain now operates a foundation that offers business grants of up to $10k to female entrepreneurs in Michigan, giving back to its home state.

Entering the scene as one of America's first specialty coffee shops, Coffee Beanery initially opened its doors in Dearborn in 1976. Its founders, married couple Julius and JoAnne Shaw, started the first Coffee Beanery shop as a way to share their passion for great coffee with the world. Through franchising, the brand was able to achieve that mission and expand beyond Michigan. With a wide variety of unique coffee flavors and blends, a warm and cozy atmosphere, and strong values, the brand was a hit with customers.

Today, Coffee Beanery operates over 100 locations in the U.S., as well as 20 international locations. Coffee Beanery is still owned and operated by the Shaws and their children, with a strong presence in Detroit and the surrounding areas. Its global headquarters are situated in a 45,000-square-foot production facility in nearby Flushing, Michigan, where the company roasts its coffee beans ready for distribution.

Savvy's Sliders is a fast-growing, relatively new restaurant brand with roots in Detroit. Starting out in 2018, in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills, Savvy's promises always fresh, never-frozen 100% angus beef sliders. Beyond beef, Savvy's menu also offers other unique slider styles like fried English cod, grilled chicken, ribeye, and spicy falafel. For customers with a sweet tooth, it also has seven flavors of custard shakes. The restaurant model is heavily based around the traditional fast food concept, adapting former banks and failed restaurant spaces into restaurants aimed at drive-through customers.

There's more than just tiny sandwiches behind the success of Savvy's Sliders, though. The chain partnered with Happy's Pizza and Fat Boy's Pizza early on to create co-branded locations, boosting visibility for its new restaurant brand. Its catering offerings and franchise program have also given the brand a steep growth trajectory, allowing it to rapidly expand nationwide in just under seven years of operation. There are now more than 50 Savvy's locations across seven states, including Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and Ohio. As this chain continues to grow, it's taking a taste of Detroit around the country.