Toppers Spotlighted in Entrepreneur Magazine

Entrepreneur magazine featured a Q&A interview with popular Toppers franchisees, Phil and Denise Downing in their "Franchise Players" column, which spotlights different franchisees. The Downings discuss their history with Toppers, which is where they met while working as delivery drivers. The pair then worked their way up and now run four stores in Wisconsin and Minnesota as successful franchisees. They discuss tips one how to balance business and marriage. 

Franchise Players: How This Pizza Chain Power Couple Balances Business and Romance

By: Kate Taylor 

Name: Phil and Denise Downing

Franchises owned (location):  Toppers in LaCrosse, Wisc., Onalaska, Wisc.,  Mankato, Minn., and Winona, Minn.

How long have you owned the franchise? 

We opened our first location in LaCrosse, Wisc., in February 2002.

Why franchising?   

We both worked for corporate stores and saw their success. We had an opportunity to franchise and start as one of the first franchisees at Toppers and we went for it.  

What were you doing before you became a franchise owner?  

Phil started with Toppers in Stevens Point, Wisc., as a delivery driver in 1997. I [Denise] started with Toppers as a delivery driver in Whitewater Wis. in 1996. In 1999, we met because Phil got transferred to be the assistant manager of the Whitewater location while I was working there. We both worked our way up in the company. Just before Toppers began franchising, Phil was a general manager of the Madison Wis. store and I was doing local store marketing for the three corporate locations. 

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Toppers Pizza featured in Entrepreneur Magazine

Toppers Pizza, the 28-unit eclectic pizza franchise based in Whitewater, WI, scored a spot in Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Nine Notable Pizza Entrepreneurs." Gittrich turned down two Domino’s locations to start up his own version of a pizza concept which has blown competition out of the water in terms of sales. Check out the Toppers Pizza roundup here!

Nine Notable Pizza Entrepreneurs
By Jason Fell

Whether you love it, or only sorta love it, pizza is big business. Over any two-week period, nearly two-thirds of Americans will eat some form of pizza, either frozen or at a restaurant, according to consumer-marketing research firm the NPD Group. Overall, pizza is the sixth-most popular dinner entree in the U.S. That's a lotta dough. From pizza trainers to eco-friendly pizzerias and big franchises, we serve up some of the most innovative entrepreneurs who have taken a bite of the giant pizza market over the years.

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Toppers Q&A featured in Entrepreneur Magazine

Reporter Jason Daley of Entrepreneur Magazine sat down with successful Toppers Pizza franchisee Dave Gilewski to learn about how he has managed to generate $600,000 sales in the first six months of opening his location in Franklin, WI. What resulted was a Q&A called “Special Delivery: A Wisconsin franchisee discovers the secret behind a pizza chain’s unparalleled popularity and makes a bundle in the bargain,” that published in the May edition of Entrepreneur Magazine. Gilewski talks candidly about Toppers Pizza’s culture, his entrepreneur story and the food that started it all at Toppers Pizza. View the full article below!

Toppers Q&A featured in Entrepreneur Magazine