Toppers Pizza Stays on Campus for Another Three Years

Pizza Sales Skyrocketed on Campus; Toppers Signs Extension

A year after Toppers Pizza beat out other pizza brands and signed a one-year agreement to be Minnesota State University – Mankato’s official pizza provider for athletics, it has extended its presence by another three years to become a mainstay on the Minnesota State University -Mankato campus.

Paul and Sue Wilke, the husband and wife franchisee team of Toppers Pizza in Mankato, brought Minnesota State University the highest pizza sales they’ve had in its history, a big factor in why MSU – Mankato opted to sign a three year extension with the irreverent pizza franchise.

“We delivered,” the Wilkes said, “Both literally and figuratively. If we said something was going to happen, it did. We never fell short of our promise to the University.”

Prior to scoring a spot on campus, Toppers had been a basketball supporter for two years as well as providing sponsorships and corporate partnerships in many aspects of MSU athletics. Through the new alliance, Toppers took their sponsorship to a whole new level; including buying the university four light boxes for the stadium for use by university sponsors, and becoming a high-level sponsor at events like Midnight Madness.

The new contract began on August 1, 2010 and runs through July 31, 2013. According to MSU’s assistant director for athletics, Mike Powicki, Toppers Pizza will be sold at all Minnesota State University athletic concessions and will have a heavy presence on football, basketball, soccer and volleyball game days, not only in the concessions, but on the field as well.

“Toppers will be involved in enhancing the game atmosphere. They will do in-game samplings and promotions geared to build up student attendance,” said Powicki.

Toppers will continue to give away 100 free slices of pizza to the student section at the men’s and women’s home games. It also gives the men’s and women’s basketball teams $500 to spend on Toppers Pizza on their discretion.

Pizza is the only concession that outside vendors can bid on since all other food is made by MSU, and competition is extremely fierce. Powicki said that the national pizza chains as well as the smaller, local pizza brands all compete to be on campus.

“Toppers’ initial athletic presence was the result of a healthy relationship that Paul and Sue Wilke have built with MSU that catapulted Toppers to the top of the list,” Powicki said. “Toppers proved to be a great choice for our pizza vendor with their accuracy, consistency and overall student-focused attitude. We are excited to have them around for at least another three years.”

Toppers of Mankato opened its doors three years ago and immediately began connecting with Minnesota State University to build tight relationships with the college community. Upon entering the market, Toppers held a huge grand opening event in which the first 50 people in line the day of their grand opening received free Toppers for a year. Ever since then, MSU students have been hooked and it shows as all 40 of Toppers employees are MSU students, including the Wilke’s two sons.

“We have established an emotional connection with the MSU students and now that we have solidified our presence on campus, it is only going to intensify,” said the Wilke’s.