Scott Gittrich, president and founder of Whitewater-based Toppers Pizza Inc., visits the chain's Kenilworth Place store on Milwaukee's east side. The chain has seven Milwaukee-area locations, the newest of which opened this month in Fox Point.
Chain's growth accelerates beyond college-town beginnings
By Doris Hajewski of the Journal Sentinel
Whitewater - Some people get into the restaurant business for the love of good food. For Scott Gittrich, it was the Mercedes driven by his 25-year-old boss at the pizza restaurant where he worked during college.
"It was a very exciting time to be in the pizza business," Gittrich said of his job as a delivery driver for Domino's Pizza in Champaign, Ill. He dropped out of the University of Illinois to pursue his dream.
Now Gittrich owns Toppers Pizza Inc., a $19 million franchise chain based in Whitewater.
For most of the years since Gittrich opened his first restaurant in Champaign in 1991, the business has grown slowly. But lately Toppers has picked up the pace, despite the downturn in the economy.
The 26th Toppers location opened May 16 in Fox Point. Gittrich has ambitious plans, aiming for 100 stores by 2013 and 500 by 2020.
Gittrich said he's succeeded by targeting a demographic that the big pizza guys don't go after: 18- to 24-year-olds.
Part of that mission stems from the company's start in college towns. After Champaign, Gittrich moved to Whitewater, where he opened a restaurant in 1993. The next two were in Eau Claire and Stevens Point, in 1997. The first franchise store opened in 2000, in La Crosse.
"The big pizza places, they get all the business, but nobody's really that happy with them," Gittrich said. "We have a fantastic fan base."
Toppers lets customers know that it doesn't take itself too seriously. The Toppers guarantee: "We unconditionally guarantee that your order will be fresh, delicious, satisfying, hot, sexy, mouth-watering, well-read, intelligent, responsible, fun-loving, and prepared exactly the way you ordered it."
Toppers' growth is against the prevailing trend in the restaurant industry.
For the quarter that ended in February, food service traffic declined by 1.5%, according to NPD Group, a research firm in Port Washington, N.Y. The quick-service restaurant segment, which includes carry-out pizza stores, experienced its first decline this quarter since the winter of 2003, down 1%.
Technomics Inc., a Chicago food industry research firm, reported slower growth rates for restaurants in 2008. The 500 largest chains in the United States posted a 3.4% growth rate for the year, compared with 5% in 2007, Technomics said in its annual report released in March.
Toppers isn't large enough for the top 500, which includes companies with sales of at least $35 million. That group accounts for 80% of all fast-food restaurants.
Independent operators dominate the pizza restaurant business, making up 65% of sales as of last July, according to a report in PMQ's Pizza Magazine, citing data from InFoUSA. Pizza Hut, the largest pizza chain, made up nearly 10% of the market, followed by Domino's with 6.8% and Papa John's with 3.6%.
Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomics, has a home in Elkhorn and is familiar with Toppers. He believes there are several reasons why Toppers is finding success.
"They not only have what's been considered to be by many very good pizza," Tristano said. Toppers also serves up variety - chicken wings, sandwiches and breadsticks with flavored toppings.
Toppers' cost of entry for franchisees is relatively low compared with some other restaurants. Toppers franchisees can expect to invest $272,000 to $495,000 to open a location.
Toppers' revenue has increased by 30% for the past two years, mainly because of new store openings, said Scott Iverson, director of advertising and franchise development. On a comparable-store basis, revenue increased 7% last year.
But the economy is showing some effects on individual store results, Gittrich said.
Lower prices this year for ingredients have helped profits, Iverson said. Toppers has been able to maintain its prices, so profits are holding up even with a decrease in the number of transactions, he said.
The bad economy has reined in the pace somewhat in the past year, Gittrich said. Two planned stores haven't been able to open because the franchisees couldn't get financing. The new Toppers in Fox Point brings the number in the Milwaukee area to seven.
The Fox Point restaurant has the look of Toppers' upgraded prototype, which includes four plasma-screen TVs and a soft-seating area with a coffee table.
Even at the helm of a fleet of pizzerias, Gittrich never did buy a Mercedes like the one he coveted back in the 1980s when he was a student/pizza delivery guy.
Gittrich did eventually finish college, earning a degree in psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 2000, when he was 37. But he drives a Ford Expedition with 276,000 miles on it.
"I just never bought a new car, and this one is as good as new. I would rather open another store a little earlier than buy another car," he said.
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