Saddleback Barbecue acquires Detroit Frankie’s

SUNDAY, Dec. 12 — Frank Tignanelli, the pizza pie mastermind behind Detroit Frankie’s Wood-fired Brick Oven is hanging it up. Tignanelli announced via the Detroit Frankie’s Facebook page that he has sold the restaurant to Saddleback Barbecue, which will absorb the eatery and rename it to Slice by Saddleback.

“It was important to me that the business didn’t close, and the employees all were able to keep their jobs. When I thought about someone to purchase the business, Saddleback Barbecue was the first company to come to mind,” Tignanelli said in the Dec. 10 social media post.

Saddleback Barbecue acquired both of the Detroit Frankie’s locations and is keeping Tignanelli’s employees onboard. The location at 644 Migaldi Lane will become a standalone Slice by Saddleback location that is due to open on New Year’s Day. Meanwhile, the location at 3135 S. Pennsylvania Ave., which was originally a collaboration with Good Truckin’ Diner, is scheduled reopen soon and will once again offer pizza alongside Good Truckin’s usual menu and other Michigan-made market goods.

Tignanelli’s staff has been in the process of teaching the Saddleback crew how to prepare the classic Detroit-style pizza in preparation for Slice by Saddleback’s January soft-opening. If you want to get one last taste of Detroit Frankie’s, you’ll have to do it by Dec. 23 — the last day the restaurant in its original format will be in business.

Slice by Saddleback

Opens New Year’s Day

644 Migaldi Lane, Lansing

Facebook.com/SlicebySaddleback