Andy and Caro Johnson of Toppers Pizza in Fast Casual

Toppers Pizza in Fast Casual

The article in Fast Casual titled, “You heard it here first: first franchisees become important brand ambassadors” highlights Andy and Caro Johnson as Toppers first franchisees and their passion for the brand. It also elaborates the Johnsons “go beyond being brand ambassadors, to actually creating the systems that express the brand experience.” It mentions the locations they own as well as Scott Iverson, being quoted on the Johnson’s have contributed to the brand, "They had a hand in developing the system for how to hire and attract good people, and the checklists for keeping restaurants very clean."

Read the full article here.

Toppers Pizza in PMQ's August Issue

Toppers Pizza in PMQ's August Issue

From PMQ Pizza Magazine

Toppers Pizza is the star of the show in PMQ Pizza Magazine's August issue. Toppers Pizza Franchise Operations Director Mark Watt discussing the importance of having a solid POS system in place to make deliveries more efficient, but adds that a manager who knows the delivery area is the best way to make sure things work smoothly. Mark talks about the fun and cheerful personality that Toppers drivers exhibit and the little extras, like bringing paper plates and seasoning, that set their delivery experience apart. Drivers have a car topper bearing the logo to let people in the area know that they deliver there. They then discuss the importance of marketing during the delivery and Mark discusses the branding present on the Toppers Pizza box, the ability for pizza makers to jot a note, the “double-check stamp”, and menu magnets in college areas. They also talk about the work done on social media where Toppers has an impressive number of Facebook and Twitter fans.

You can read the full article here.

Toppers in QSR Magazine

Toppers in QSR Magazine

This article in QSR Magazine talks about brands innovating or making decisions around packaging. Scott Iverson, Toppers Pizza vice president of marketing, talks about the new packaging currently in the mix for Toppers including how the brand changed the boxes to convey main points to their consumers so that they make sure all of their brand messages and touch points are delivered in a fun way. This story showed how Toppers makes a unique connection with customers through its packaging!

Read the full story here.

Toppers featured on Pizza MarketPlace

Toppers was recently featured on Pizza MarketPlace in an article titled, "Toppers CEO: Big pizza chains have lost identity, brand connection."  For the entire coverage click here or begin below.

Toppers CEO: Big pizza chains have lost identity, brand connection

Wisconsin-based Toppers Pizza reported a 7.7 percent same-store sales increase in the second quarter. This comes on the heels of its 13.59 percent increase in Q1.

The 50-unit chain is up 30.13 percent in system-wide sales, including a 23.81 increase in Q2. This mark sets the brand up for its sixth straight year of 20 percent or more increases in system-wide sales growth.

(Read More)

Toppers featured Nation's Restaurant News

Toppers was recently featured in the Nation's Restaurant News in an article titled, "Breakout Brands: Toppers Pizza."  The article details Scott Gittrich, founder and chief executive, and his booming brand.

Breakout Brand: Toppers Pizza
By: Vanessa Van Landingham

Best known among its growing fanbase for menu items that founder and chief executive Scott Gittrich calls “weird,” Toppers Pizza is using its irreverent, underdog attitude and eclectic pizzas to steal share from the industry giants.

When he opened the first Toppers store in 1991, Gittrich said he was filling a void in quality and innovation that he saw in the pizza segment.

(Read More)

Say CHEESE Midwest – Toppers is Bubbling Out of Wisconsin

The biggest advantage of how we have grown in Wisconsin is the buzz that we have built in terms of brand awareness. By starting on college campuses we have built a loyal cult like following. Our customers are fanatical about our products. These fanatics help us create new fanatics by telling them about Toppers. When we showed up 5 years later in Milwaukee people would say I loved you while I was in college at Whitewater, Stevens Point, Madison, etc.

How we be able to sustain that fanatical following as we progress outside of Wisconsin, is the million dollar question. We need to do a great job of educating people on the awesome tasty goodness of our core products – Topperstix & House Pizzas. We intend on strategically growing one market at a time much like we did in Wisconsin. Our primary targets are major college campus markets in the Upper Midwest. By developing the brand in these influential markets first this will allow us develop a loyal following that will help carry us as we enter other major metro areas such as Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati. To accomplish our growth goals we need to continue to align ourselves with great single unit and area developer franchisees.

We are getting franchising interest from people all across the country. However, the majority of our leads are from people who already know the Toppers brand. Most of them are customers or friends of employees or franchisees. We get the most leads from the places where we already have open Toppers stores.

In 2010, we are going to be making an aggressive push to attracting new franchise prospects. As of today we are right on our pace of hitting 100 stores by the end of 2013. We currently have 26 stores open with another 18 under contract to open in the next 24 months. In the coming year we are planning on taking more advantage of our social media outlets as a lead generating tool.