Bakers Square
Bakers Square is a Midwestern US casual dining restaurant chain owned by BBQ Holdings, Inc., serving all-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a signature award-winning pie portfolio across company-owned restaurants and partner distribution channels like Famous Dave's and Tahoe Joe's.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1970
- HeadquartersMinnetonka, United States
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Bakers Square does
Bakers Square is a casual dining restaurant chain founded in the early 1970s in Des Moines, Iowa, and currently owned and operated by BBQ Holdings, Inc. (dba Bakers Square) and BsQ OpCo, LLC, with corporate headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The company operates full-service restaurants offering all-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus — including the customizable 4-Square Breakfast concept, burgers, sandwiches, salads, homestyle dinners, and seafood — anchored by a signature pie portfolio of over a dozen varieties that have reportedly won 300+ American Pie Council National Pie Championships.
The business earns revenue primarily through dine-in transactions at company-owned restaurants, complemented by pickup and delivery orders placed through its proprietary online ordering platform (order.bakerssquare.com, integrated with olo.com), in-restaurant and eClub/email promotional offers, gift card sales (eGift and plastic, via wgiftcard.com), and a recently developed corporate catering channel via ezCater. The technology stack is built entirely on third-party SaaS partners: olo.com for ordering/POS, Punchh for the loyalty and rewards program, ezCater for catering distribution, and ADP for recruiting; no proprietary AI/ML or platform IP is disclosed. Bakers Square pies are also distributed through partnership channels at select Famous Dave's locations across 14 states and Tahoe Joe's locations in California, providing low-capex geographic extension.
The customer base is fragmented and consumer-facing: families with children, seniors (with a 10% discount for 60+), corporate catering buyers, and community organizations participating in fundraising programs. Marketing is driven by signature promotions such as Free Pie Wednesday, Pi Day, National Pie Month activations, SMS/eClub offers, and a presence on Facebook and Instagram. Recent strategic activity has emphasized menu refreshes (Seafood Specials 2024), co-location mergers with sister brand Village Inn in Palatine, IL and Mentor, OH, and pie-led distribution partnerships — consistent with a mature, regionally-concentrated chain focused on traffic frequency rather than greenfield expansion.
Bakers Square firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Bakers Square
- Legal name
- BBQ Holdings, Inc.
- Website
- https://bakerssquare.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1970
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Bakers Square is a Midwestern US casual dining restaurant chain owned by BBQ Holdings, Inc., serving all-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a signature award-winning pie portfolio across company-owned restaurants and partner distribution channels like Famous Dave's and Tahoe Joe's.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Bakers Square industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Casual Dining Restaurants
- NAICS
- Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Commercial Bakeries (311812), Caterers (722320)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating Places (5812), Bakery Products (2050)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Cafe-Bakeries (Bakery + Coffee/Foodservice) (THAFAFAG)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Wholesale / Commercial Bakeries (B2B Supply) (THAFAFAF)
Keywords
Where Bakers Square is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Minnetonka
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Bakers Square business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Restaurant Dining: Full-service restaurant offering breakfast, lunch, and dinner with dine-in service. Revenue generated from food and beverage sales including signature dishes, burgers, sandwiches, salads, and specialty entrées.
- Pie Sales: Retail pie sales both by whole pie and by individual slice. Pies are produced in a central facility and distributed to locations. Includes seasonal and specialty pie varieties.
- Catering Services: Corporate and event catering including breakfast buffets, skillets, French toast, pancakes, bacon, and hash browns. Also offers individual breakfast boxes for meetings and gatherings.
- Online Ordering: Direct online ordering through company's website for pickup and delivery at participating locations. Customers can order full meals, pies, and bakery items.
- Gift Cards: Sale of eGift cards and physical gift cards for restaurant purchases. Sold online through proprietary storefront and in bulk for corporate gifting.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Free Pie Wednesday promotion - free slice of pie with entrée and beverage purchase |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | $3 off first order promotion for new email/text signups |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Family breakfast meals |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Pie Slice Special add-on |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Senior Discount |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels7 records
Bakers Square product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Bakers Square operates a full-service casual dining restaurant chain offering all-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus, with award-winning pies as its signature product. The company sells whole pies and individual pie slices from a dedicated bakery facility, supports dine-in, online ordering for pickup and delivery, catering for events, and gift cards through company-owned storefronts and partner restaurants.
Product overview
Bakers Square is a restaurant chain offering all-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus across multiple locations in the upper Midwest and other states. The company operates a portfolio of products centered around its signature award-winning pies, which have won over 300 American Pie Council National Championships. Core dining products include breakfast (featuring the customizable 4-Square breakfast), lunch (burgers, melts, sandwiches, salads), and dinner (homestyle dinners, chicken, seafood). The bakery section offers fresh-baked breads, cookies, muffins, and sweet rolls. Catering services extend the brand to events, while gift cards and the eClub rewards program provide additional customer engagement. Pies are available as whole pies or by-slice, with multiple varieties including French Silk (best seller), Cherry, Country Apple, Lemon Supreme, Harvest Pumpkin, and Reduced Sugar options. The company operates both full-service restaurants and pie-only locations at partner venues (Famous Dave's, Tahoe Joe's).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- All Day Breakfast Menu Full breakfast offerings served all day including Skillets and Scramblers, Griddle Favorites, Omelettes and Frittatas, Classic Breakfasts, and the 4-Square Create Your Own Breakfast option for individual consumers and families dining at Bakers Square restaurants.
- Lunch Menu Midday dining options including Crush Burgers, Melts, Sandwiches, Pitas, Handcrafted Salads, and Hearty Soups for individual diners and families at Bakers Square locations.
- Dinner Menu Evening entrees including Homestyle Dinners, Tasty Chicken options, and From the Sea selections with various dinner sides for guests dining at Bakers Square restaurants.
- Kids Menu Children's entrees and sides including Chicken Strips, Pancakes, Funny Face pancakes, Grilled Cheese, and various side options designed for children 10 and under.
- Bakery Items Fresh-baked goods including breads, cookies (Chocolate Chunk, Sugar, Peanut Butter), muffins (Blueberry, Bran, Banana Nut), and sweet rolls produced in a central bakery facility and distributed to Bakers Square restaurants.
- Pies Signature award-winning pies available as whole pies or individual slices in multiple varieties including Custard and Cream (French Silk, Lemon Supreme, Lemon Meringue, Cheesecake, Carrot Cake), Fruit and Berry (Cherry, Country Apple, Peach, Strawberry Rhubarb, Triple Berry), Pecan and Pumpkin (Southern Pecan, Harvest Pumpkin), Reduced Sugar Apple, and Specialty Desserts. Pies have won over 300 American Pie Council National Championships.
- Catering Services Catering for corporate meetings, family gatherings, and events featuring breakfast options including skillets, French toast, pancakes, bacon, hash browns, and individual breakfast boxes, available through Bakers Square's ezCater partnership at select full-service locations.
- Gift Cards eGift cards and plastic gift cards available for purchase online through wgiftcard.com with bulk ordering options for corporate gifting; balance checking available online.
Quantifiable outcome
- 300+ pie awards in the last decade
Companies that use Bakers Square
Customer profileSegments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Bakers Square technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
Feature1 record
Bakers Square partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Famous Dave'scoreBakers Square pies are available at select Famous Dave's restaurant locations across the United States. This partnership extends Bakers Square's pie distribution to customers in states where full Bakers Square restaurants are not present, including Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
- Tahoe Joe'scoreBakers Square pies are available at select Tahoe Joe's restaurant locations in California (Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia). This partnership provides pie distribution in the California market through an existing restaurant chain.
- Village InnminorCombined Bakers Square/Village Inn locations in Palatine, IL and Mentor, OH where both restaurant brands operate under one roof. Bakers Square continues serving pies alongside Village Inn's classic breakfast menu.
- Punchh, Inc.corePunchh provides the technology platform for Bakers Square's customer loyalty and rewards program. The platform enables personalized offers, customer engagement, and loyalty tracking across restaurant locations.
- ezCatercoreezCater is the catering marketplace partner for Bakers Square, enabling corporate customers and event planners to order catering services through the ezCater platform. Available at select full-service Bakers Square locations.
- olo.comcoreolo.com provides the online ordering platform technology for Bakers Square's website-based food ordering system, enabling pickup and delivery orders at participating locations.
- ADPminorADP provides the applicant tracking and recruiting platform for Bakers Square's career site, enabling online job applications and recruitment processes.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Bakers Square competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Village Inn: Village Inn is a sister brand under BBQ Holdings, Inc. that operates a similar full-service casual dining concept with a strong pie and breakfast focus. Already co-located with Bakers Square in Palatine, IL and Mentor, OH, Village Inn competes in the same upper Midwestern family dining segment with comparable menus and customer demographics.
- Marie Callender's: Marie Callender's is a casual dining concept historically anchored by signature pies, much like Bakers Square. Both brands leverage pie as a primary differentiator, target similar comfort-food occasions, and have explored dual restaurant + retail-grocery distribution for their baked goods.
- Perkins Restaurant & Bakery: Perkins is a full-service casual dining chain with a co-equal bakery/pie focus and an all-day breakfast offering, directly mirroring Bakers Square's hybrid restaurant + bakery model. The two concepts compete for the same family dining and senior diner segments across the Midwest and beyond.
Broad incumbents
- IHOP: IHOP is a national full-service chain with an all-day breakfast and family dining focus that overlaps with Bakers Square's core daypart. As a much larger, publicly listed brand with a broad marketing budget, IHOP competes for the same casual breakfast and lunch occasions across the U.S.
- Waffle House: Waffle House is a large 24-hour diner chain focused on breakfast and comfort food at value price points. While differentiated by its counter-service format, it competes for many of the same breakfast, family, and late-night occasions in markets where Bakers Square operates.
- Bob Evans Restaurants: Bob Evans is a family-oriented full-service restaurant chain with a strong breakfast and comfort food menu, plus a packaged grocery products line. It competes directly with Bakers Square for family breakfast and dinner occasions across the Midwest and Eastern U.S.
- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store: Cracker Barrel is a publicly traded family casual dining chain with a country-comfort menu, gift shop, and broad demographic appeal that competes with Bakers Square for family meals and senior diners. It is a much larger operator with a national footprint and an integrated retail component.
- Golden Corral: Golden Corral is a national family casual dining and buffet chain competing for value-conscious family meals, senior diners, and weekend occasions that overlap with Bakers Square's target segments. It offers a much larger national footprint and a buffet pricing model.
- Denny's: Denny's is a large publicly traded full-service diner chain with national footprint, all-day breakfast, and senior discount programs that directly overlap with Bakers Square's value proposition. It competes for the same breakfast and family occasions, but at much larger scale and with broader geographic reach.
- Famous Dave's: Famous Dave's is a sister brand under BBQ Holdings, Inc. and a casual dining chain centered on barbecue. Beyond the corporate parent relationship, Famous Dave's hosts Bakers Square pies in many of its locations, making the two brands both collaborators and adjacent competitors in the same parent portfolio.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Bakers Square social profiles
Digital presenceBakers Square financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Bakers Square leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Bakers Square funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Bakers Square M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Bakers Square
What does Bakers Square do?
Bakers Square operates a full-service casual dining restaurant chain offering all-day breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus, with award-winning pies as its signature product. The company sells whole pies and individual pie slices from a dedicated bakery facility, supports dine-in, online ordering for pickup and delivery, catering for events, and gift cards through company-owned storefronts and partner restaurants.
Is Bakers Square a public or private company?
Bakers Square is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Bakers Square founded?
Bakers Square was founded in 1970. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Bakers Square based?
Bakers Square is headquartered in Minnetonka, United States, in the North America region.
How does Bakers Square make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Restaurant Dining is the primary driver. The others are pie Sales, catering Services, online Ordering and gift Cards.
Who are Bakers Square's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Village Inn, Marie Callender's and Perkins Restaurant & Bakery. Broad incumbents are IHOP, Waffle House, Bob Evans Restaurants, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Golden Corral, Denny's and Famous Dave's.
Does Bakers Square have an API?
No public API is recorded for Bakers Square.
What industry is Bakers Square in?
Bakers Square's product category is Casual Dining Restaurants. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFAFAG, Cafe-Bakeries (Bakery + Coffee/Foodservice), with a secondary code of THAFAFAF, Wholesale / Commercial Bakeries (B2B Supply). Its NAICS code is 722511 and its SIC code is 5812.