It’s the square beyond compare—and it’s the hottest pizza style in the U.S. today, according to research firm Datassential.
By Rick Hynum
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This article is part 10 of the Pizza Power Report 2025. You can scroll down to the bottom to navigate to other sections of the report that can be found on www.PMQ.com.
Detroit-style pizza, with its edge-to-edge Wisconsin brick cheese, stripes of tomato sauce and crispy, caramelized edges, originated at Buddy’s Pizza in the Motor City in 1946. Weirdly, it spent six decades in relative obscurity, although Detroiters knew it was something special from the beginning. Now everyone knows it, as the style has spread from north to south and coast to coast.
But don’t call it a “trend”—that’s a word Burton Heiss, CEO of Buddy’s Pizza, doesn’t much care for. “Detroit-style pizza is more than a trend—it’s a tradition,” he noted in 2021. That same year Buddy’s established National Detroit-Style Pizza Day, and since then Detroit-inspired pizzerias around the country have celebrated the occasion every June 23, usually donating a portion of their sales on that day to local nonprofits combating food insecurity and homelessness.
Related: What are the elements of an authentic Detroit-style pizza?
But, as the chart below shows, the Detroit style is just one of many pizza styles described as “on fire” by Datassential. Meanwhile, varieties like Mexican pizza, the Quad Cities style and the St. Louis style are “gaining fast” as Americans continue to expect more from their pizza—whether it’s a cracker-thin crust topped with Provel (for which Imo’s in St. Louis has become legendary) or Roman-style pizza al taglio that is properly cut with scissors.
Are you looking to capitalize on evolving customer preferences at your pizzeria this year? Check out this list of the trending pizza styles for 2025 and find one that will work for you.
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