Dangerously Delicious Pies Temporarily Shutters Two Metro Detroit Shops

Sweet and savory pie slinger, Dangerously Delicious Pies, has temporarily shuttered its Midtown and Wyandotte locations and may close down one of the shops for good.

The closures were announced on Monday in a statement by Dangerously Delicious Pies owner Rodney Henry on the company’s Facebook page (the post has since been removed). Reached by Eater today, Henry confirmed that that both pie shops have been temporarily shutdown while he rehires and retrains staff. The future of the Wyandotte location remains up in the air.

Henry founded the original Dangerously Delicious Pies in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2003 and has since grown the business to six restaurant locations across the East Coast and Midwest. He tells Eater that he recently came to Detroit to help with the Midtown and Wyandotte businesses and found that they were not meeting the standards he set for Dangerously Delicious Pies.

Although the metro Detroit shops were still producing quality pies, Henry says the menu selection was stagnant and the employees weren’t knowledgeable about the products. “It’s my business, so it’s important for me to keep it from staying the same. It can’t just be mediocre,” he says. “It has to be happening.”

Dangerously Delicious Pies originally opened in Detroit as a pop-up pie counter in Third Street Bar, but two years ago began eyeing a brick-and-mortar expansion. Last summer, the company opened a baking facility in River Rouge and established a standalone location in downtown Wyandotte. A year ago, the Third Street location closed to make way for a full-scale Midtown restaurant on Alexandrine Street. After several delays, the new Detroit location debuted in March.

Henry believes that the partners managing Dangerously Delicious Pies in metro Detroit weren’t fully invested in or prepared to maintain a duo of brick-and-mortar shops and, as a result, the service at both locations suffered. “You have to be more on top of your stuff when you’re in a standalone building than when you’re in the back of the bar,” Henry says.

Since encountering the issues with the shops several weeks ago, Henry has been in the process of taking over the operations at both the Wyandotte and Midtown locations. “We’re starting out fresh,” Henry says. “Pretty much nobody who was involved in the operation before are there now.” Henry hopes to see the Alexandrine Street location in Midtown reopen next week with a new team and an updated, rotating menu. During the transition, the River Rouge bakery will remain open for special orders.

Henry is still determining how to move forward with the Biddle Avenue restaurant in Wyandotte. Henry tells Eater that the lease on that location is almost up and while the restaurant is performing well, the distance between the individual locations is making it difficult to maintain the downriver restaurant. “It’s too spread out,” he says. “Running three places and a bakery right this minute — it’s impossible.”

In better news, work is currently underway to buildout a Dangerously Delicious Pies counter at Hamtramck’s Ghost Light bar. Henry says customers can expect to see the pie shop present during the city’s Labor Day Festival with a complete opening in the bar by mid-to-late September. Lookout for more updates on the future of the Wyandotte pie shop in the next few day.

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