It will open three hours before it opens at Birdie’s Pizza on North 13th Avenue in Philomas, and owners Scott Wilcockson, Jeremiah Mulder and Jesse Durocher are busy preparing for service. At this time, Wilcockson separates the spinach leaves from the stems, Mulder slices the mozzarella cheese, and Durochar prepares the dough.
After opening about a month ago in a space previously occupied by Sunrise Sourdough Bakery, customers submit to enjoy New York-style pizza and Detroit-style pizza.
“We are very grateful for the community because it was a really great, warm introduction,” Wilcockson said. “It felt good to feel like we were contributing to the community, and that was the goal. That’s my takeout so far.”
The three men get to know each other well together, gathering farms together for dinner service. Mulder said, “We’re all used to working with each other, so that’s a continuation.”
The move to establish business at 128 N. 13th St. moved quickly when the location became available for rental.
“It was just a kind of kind of thing that opened up and not only had the ability to do this in this space,” Durocher said. “It was already a bakery, so in a way it was like a unicorn… And there was an oven, a mixer and a lot of the equipment already located here. So we didn’t need to renovate it much to sniff it out.”
The lucky discovery led the business to take over licenses from previous businesses, with Birdie’s pizza opening on March 12th.
“We held meetings and understood what our skill set was. We all knew what we could do and as time went on with the business, we settled in a position we felt most comfortable,” Durocher said. “It’s really going well.”
As mentioned before, Birdie’s pizza offers both a thin foldable crust and a New York-style pizza with a rectangular metal pan with ingredients at the fluffy center and edges to a Detroit-style pizza.
“We’re doing the traditional New York style almost exactly, except for a few changes we made to make it work for us,” Durocher said. “Basically, it’s 18-inch thin, cut from your hands and minimized so you don’t overload a lot of water. You’ll need that kind of crunch when folding the slices in half.”
Detroit-style pizza is similar to the Sicilian style, but cooked in a deeper frying pan.
“What we do in Detroit is to fill in all the toppings, cheese and all the ingredients. “So we bake in the oven… the cheese melts and goes down the edge of the pot, bites, and it’s made like the edge of a carmelized cheese. It’s like the best part of pizza. The corners and edges of pizza are always everyone’s favorites.”
Birdie’s pizza makes cold, fermented dough. This allows it to slowly rise in the freezer for several days. As a result, pizza chefs are limited to around 50-60 New York-style pizzas and 40 Detroit-style pizzas per day.
“With more fridge space and walk ink, you can have more pizza in a day,” Durocher says. “But we don’t kill ourselves, so we like what we’re doing now, and we cherish it.”
Birdies always have pizzas that they go to on the menu – cheese and pepperoni serve as examples, but some ingredients in a particular pie change with the seasons. Businesses source local and organic ingredients when possible.
“It’s very farm-driven,” Durocher said when asked how they came up with the menu. “So we’re working on what’s available locally and what’s in season, and what’s nicest at the start, and filling in the blanks with pizza standards.”
As a result, people may encounter a variety of preferences throughout the year.
“Maybe every few weeks, we might change things. Bring something special with new vegetables… When different mushrooms come in, we’ll probably bring in some wild foraging mushroom pizza and more.”
A lot of work is in the sauce.
“We developed a lot of recipes that led to our opening,” Durocher said. “When it comes to seasonings, sauces, pizza sauces, everything we go to pizza from scratch. It was a conscious choice. We wanted to make things, not go on the route to buy things in advance, but to make things.”
Other pizza locations already established in Philomas did not prevent the three owners from making the opening decision. They want the community to like what they believe is a quality product from dough to sauces to toppings.
“We use high quality materials. It’s not necessarily better than anyone else. It’s not what other places do,” Wilcockson said. “Contacting from other people… They wanted something like what you could find in a bigger city. You know, you know, it might take a little more time and care to get into it. I think people are responding and prove that it’s working.”
Detroit-style pizza offers gluten-free options. Birdie also comes with salad options and some soft drinks. In addition to the three co-owners, the business also employs three part-timers.
Birdie’s pizza is open Wednesday through Saturday from 4pm to 9pm or until pizza is sold out. Pizza can be ordered from the Birdie website or by calling 541-829-5207.
