Dangerously Delicious Pies Isn’t Reopening in Detroit After All

Several weeks after abruptly closing down its Midtown and Wyandotte locations, Dangerously Delicious Pies has officially called it quits in Detroit.

In a statement by email today, the Baltimore-based chain’s founder Rodney Henry confirmed to Eater that he has permanently closed all of the metro Detroit outlets. Plans for a new pie counter inside Hamtramck’s Ghost Light bar have also been axed. “We are out of Detroit,” Henry writes. Dangerously Delicious Pies does not “have any present plans to re-open any locations.”

The rock and roll pie shop known for its sweet and savory slices had operated in Detroit for years, first at the now-shuttered Comet Bar and then at Third Street Bar in Cass Corridor. Last year, local operators Sam Wood and Don Duprie opened a brick-and-mortar location ind downtown Wyandotte along with a River Rouge production facility. Not long after, the partners shut down the Third Street pie bar to focus on building out a second brick-and-mortar restaurant in Cass Corridor’s Strathmore Apartment Building. That location finally debuted in March.

Earlier this summer, Henry appeared to have a falling out with his local partners over how they had managed the business. During a then-temporary closure in August, Henry told Eater that he believed neither of the owners were prepared to maintain multiple brick-and-mortar shops and that service had suffered as a result of the expansion.

Michelle and Chris Gerard

While he maintained that the quality of the pies was still good, Henry said the selection had stagnated and 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 said. Former employees told Metro Times they disagreed with Henry’s characterizations.

The Wyandotte location had already been expected to remain permanently closed, however there was hope that Henry might revamp the Midtown outpost by hiring and training new staff in time for an late-August reopening. That relaunch never happened. The deal with Ghost Light apparently fell through not long after the temporary closures. While some of the equipment remains, Dangerously Delicious Pies logos for the Alexandrine Street restaurant have been removed and the social media accounts have since been shut down.

• Dangerously Delicious Pies Temporarily Shutters Two Metro Detroit Shops [ED]
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