A Quick Q&A with Christopher Bertram, Upriver Pizza, Benzonia, Michigan

Concept:

We are a pizzeria that focuses on showcasing quality ingredients. We do this using simple cooking techniques and striving to make as many things as we can in house.

Pizza Style(s):

In the beginning, it was really just about trying to make a truly authentic New York-style pizza, and bring that product to an audience in Northern Michigan. As we have grown, we have added new styles of pizza to our repertoire, but we only use one dough. The sourdough mix we use can become many different things, depending on how we treat it. We use it to make our sub rolls and a traditional loaf bread. We also use it to make a Detroit-style pizza and what we call an American-style pizza. Unlike the New York style that is cooked directly on the stone of our oven, the Detroit and American styles are done in carbon steel pans. For the American style, we offer a selection of flavorings to add to the thick, doughy crust. Each style is uniquely different in the end product, but they all start with the same dough.

What can you attribute to the consistent growth of your business?

I believe the growth that we have seen from our early days as a food truck through today has always been because we are focused on quality. As our business grew, we remained focused on making sure that we could produce a consistent and quality product that our customer base came to know us for. This is what has driven the buzz around our business. In my opinion, word of mouth from happy customers is the best way that a restaurant can attract new customers. Updating our logo and adding new signage also helped immensely to increase our visibility to both new and existing customers.

What is your strategy for marketing and events, especially in the winter season in Northern Michigan?

Winters in Northern Michigan can definitely be tough. We find that giving our loyal local customers something special keeps them coming in. We have added a number of new dishes that you can only get on certain days of the week. We are able to cook something new and interesting – and when it runs out for the week, it is gone until next time. Social media has been an invaluable tool in creating a following for these types of specials. This has worked enormously well with our Thursday smash burger special. We get local beef and cut our fries in house. It is served on an amazing brioche bun with a burger sauce that we make in house. It started as a special we were going to run for the month of March only. It took a couple of weeks for the word to really get out, but once it did, we had people asking about burgers almost every day. Once the end of March (2024) came, the demand for burgers had become too big to just stop doing them, so we just didn’t stop. We have been preparing a set number of burgers and house-made French fries for each Thursday, and week after week, we sell out. I think that the success of burgers at our pizzeria goes back to the reason that we have seen so much growth overall in our business, and that is quality.

What’s next for Upriver Pizza?

As for the future of Upriver, we are always looking for the right opportunity to expand our brand to a larger market. We have to be considerate of maintaining the quality that is essential to our brand as we expand, which is always a delicate balance in this business.

Learn more about Upriver Pizza and on Instagram.

Check out more Conversations with Pizzeria Operators in People & Pizzerias.