ORLANDO, Fla. – Rob Bair is no stranger to the restaurant industry having already built two successful Central Florida chains, Gringos Locos and Tin & Taco.
Now he’s building a third chain, but this time, he is stepping away from the Tex-Mex cuisine that brought him so much success and moving toward a flavor of his childhood — Detroit-style pizza.
“I’m originally from the Detroit area,” Bair said. “I left when I was 15 years old but I grew up on — we didn’t call it Detroit style pizza — you either get a square pizza or a round pizza, and we always loved the square pizza.”
[ADD YOUR BUSINESS TO THE FLORIDA FOODIE DIRECTORY]
In 2022, Bair opened SoDough Square, which serves a version of the “square pizza” he grew up with. However, he did not set out to open up a pizza place.
“During COVID, I really dug into this style of pizza,” Bair said. “I’ve been making it for a long time, but I’ve never really gone down the rabbit hole, so to say. So I started making it for my family and every time I would do something different whether it’s the flour, whether it’s the fermentation.”
Check out the Florida Foodie podcast. You can find every episode in the media player below:
Bair said his kitchen turned into a lab for pizza dough. After multiple tests, it was Bair’s wife who finally told him when the pizza was perfected.
“I brought it out to my wife, and she took a bite, and she said, ‘Whatever you just did, stop right there. That’s it. That’s it,’” he said.
Around this time, a Hungry Howie’s pizza place next door to the SoDo location of Tin & Taco closed up shop, making the space available.
“I took over the Hungry Howie’s spot, and it was nice because it was all built out and all I had to do is swap out the equipment,” Bair said.
Find every episode of Florida Foodie on YouTube:
Since then, Bair has opened a second location of SoDough Square in Winter Park, taking over the space from a former Tin & Taco location. He also has plans in the works to open a third location in Lake Mary.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Bair goes into great detail about what makes a Detroit-style pizza unique from other regional variations. He also shares memories of eating pizza at Red Wings’ hockey games and how he might expand the menu with another Detroit favorite.
Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s book, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.”
Florida Foodie is a podcast from WKMG and Graham Media that takes a closer look at what we eat, how we eat it and the impact that has on us here in Florida and for everyone, everywhere. Find new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.