It’s been a hard year for Square Pie City, the Detroit-style local pizzeria from Chef Jeremiah Bullfrog. Square Pie City began through popups and opened a flagship in the Design District two years ago, which was forced to close after damage to the building the first half of 2024.
“Our flagship had a fire and we were offered popup space in Wynwood at Freehold Studios,” Bullfrog told What Now last week. “But were just subleasing from Freehold, and they lost their deal as far their lease. And consequently we lost our deal too.”
A statement from the restaurant’s lawyer, quoted in coverage by the Miami Herald, says, “Apparently Freehold negotiated a termination of the master lease with the landlord, which resulted in a termination of the sublease we had with Freehold. “Unfortunately, we were not told of any of these issues until the day before the termination was scheduled to take effect. So we were caught by surprise.”
The difficulty of two sudden bad turns is palpable in Bullfrog’s telling of the story.
“We’ve had staff with us for years, and we survived a fire in the restaurant, which decimated our operation, and then we moved to something we thought would be positive.”
Still, the chef says Square Pie City isn’t giving up. The plan is to find a new home—preferably, a brick and mortar (“There’s something about going into a place and turning the lights on and having air conditioning,” Bulfrog says in the Herald coverage). But Bullfrog says Square Pie City will start wherever it needs to, when it can.
“We’ve always been a scrappy sort of start-up, so we if we need to pop-up somewhere or partner with another brewery, we will,” Bullfrog said. “We’re trying to roll with the punches. We want to keep our staff employed. We believe in fair wages for fair work, and we want to keep serving our community.”
You can keep up with Square Pie City news by following @squarepiecity on Instagram. “Currently searching for a new home,” the bio says. “Need pizza?”
