Toppers featured on NRN.com

Toppers was recently featured on NRN.com in an article titled, "Pizza players slicing up success." The article provides information regarding the rising success of pizza chains and players in the industry. Toppers Pizza is mentioned for their fun and unique toppings such as their Mac ‘N Cheese Pizza.  Click here for the entire article or begin below.

Pizza players slicing up success
By: Nancy Kruse

That blinding light isn’t a reflection of the sun; it’s the collective smile power of happy pizza makers, who started 2013 with good news. According to retail-grocery researcher IBISWorld, the supermarket frozen-pizza category has seen revenues fall nearly 9 percent over the past two years as consumers, seeking freshness, authenticity and perhaps a little adventure, abandoned freezer cases and returned to pizza parlors.

(Read More)

Just a Few Days Left to Nominate your Toppers Location!

The Top Toppers Facebook Contest is quickly approaching the next round of voting on November 19, 2012.  Stop by the Facebook Page to nominate your location and enter to win an Ultimate Toppers Party!

 

Toppers featured on AllFacebook.com

Toppers Pizza was recently featured on AllFacebook.com in an article titled "Restaurants Compete With Major Chains Through Facebook," which was based off of the recent NRN Article. The article discusses the engagement-driven initiatives that have helped fans and customers have a say. Click here for the full article, or begin reading below.

Restaurants Compete With Major Chains Through Facebook

Smaller chain restaurants may not be able to compete with major chains in terms of volume, but they do have a vital way of bringing in business and keeping customers happy: Facebook. A story in Nation’s Restaurant News illustrates how restaurants are reaching out to customers through social media.

The story details how regional chains Lenny’s Sub Shop and Toppers Pizza have used Facebook and other forms of social media to grow their businesses. They have one advantage over larger companies such as Subway and Pizza Hut: fans per unit. Nation’s Restaurant News cites statistics from No Limit Media Consulting, showing that Lenny’s Facebook page had more than 84,000 likes for its chain of 147 locations — roughly 578 fans per unit. Subway, by comparison, may have 15 million likes, but they’re also more spread out, with 469 fans per location. Toppers recorded 1,228 fans per location.

(Read More)

Toppers featured in Nation's Restaurant News

Toppers Pizza was recently featured in an article in Nation's Restaurant News titled "Maximizing the value of the social media fan." The article talks about the success Lenny’s has had with its social media and how the brand has been clever with its social media initiatives. The article also includes information about some of the new product launches and promotions. Click here for the full article, or begin reading below.

Maximizing the value of the social media fan
Smaller restaurant chains share Facebook strategies that have helped them grow sales and units

Upstart restaurant brands like Toppers Pizza and Lenny's Sub Shop have to compete against industry giants like Pizza Hut and Subway for sales, and while they acknowledge that they can’t match their rivals’ size, they can punch above their weight in terms of marketing through social media.

Executives at both brands said they concentrate less on the total number of “likes” they earn on Facebook compared with much larger chains than they do at their likes per store. Though the number of restaurants in their systems do not approach the same league as the competition, often their stable of Facebook fans per unit far exceed that of their peers.

(Read More)

Toppers featured in QSR Magazine

Toppers Pizza was recently featured in an article titled "The Art of the LTO" in QSR Magazine. The article features Toppers' focus on social media as a driving force in promoting limited-time offers. Scott Iversen shares the secrets of timing and volume that help with their success in these types of promotions. Click here to read the full article, or read the Toppers excerpt below.

The Art of the LTO
Limited-time offers are a fundamental part of the quick-serve industry. Here’s how to do them right.

Toppers Pizza, with 41 locations in the Midwest and South, is another operation that focuses heavily on social media, primarily Facebook, to promote its LTOs. With more than 50,000 fans following it, the company will regularly put out aggressively priced, short-term deals, such as a large one-topping pizza for $5, good for three days only.

“You’ve got to be ‘in the know’ to get these kinds of deals,” says Scott Iversen, vice president of marketing for Toppers. “It’s a matter of building up exclusivity. But it’s crazy when it happens; we do them generally at the end of a quarter, and our Facebook page goes wild, the stores are filled, people are telling their friends to get down here.”

With all those people buying $5 pizzas, it would be understandable to think the company wouldn’t make a profit on that particular LTO. But Iversen says it all works out in the end if the offer is good enough. “We end up doing double the amount of transaction counts during an LTO compared to a normal week, and the volume we do makes up for the lower margin,” he says. “And of course you’ve got ancillary sales in drinks and sides.”

(Read More)

Toppers Pizza featured in QSR

Toppers Pizza was recently featured in an article in QSR titled, “Clustered Growth Strategy Boosts Toppers' Social Media." The story details Toppers' multiunit growth strategy and how that proximity helps local-store marketing and drives the brand’s social media presence. In the article, Mark discusses how clustered growth has allowed Toppers to efficiently use its resources, and Nick Powills from No Limit Media Consulting, addresses how Social Media enhances this strategy. The article also discusses the pros and cons of a clustered growth strategy. Click here for the full article, or begin reading below.

Clustered Growth Strategy Boosts Toppers' Social Media
By Sonya Chudgar

By clustering store openings, Toppers Pizza has found a strategic growth strategy that simultaneously protects brand awareness and boosts social media fans.

The multiunit growth strategy brings in a seasoned business partner who is dedicated to building at least five to six stores.

“It gets somebody on board who is interested and capable of opening and operating the stores,” says Mark Cairns, the director of franchise development at Toppers. “When we can put them together and cluster, we’re able to be closer to the community and closer to our customers.”

(Read More)

Toppers Pizza reaches 50,000 Facebook fan milestone

People like Toppers Pizza. At least 50,000 of them do on Facebook, anyway. On April 30th, 2012, Toppers Pizza hit the milestone after a last-minute push to get people to share photos and status updates.

Once the page hit 50,000 fans, Toppers launched a simple Facebook application where the first 50 fans to enter their information in a form were rewarded with a Free Single Order of Topperstix. After just under 2 minutes, all of the free Topperstix were spoken for. Truly, the Toppers Pizza Facebook fan base is an active and engaged group.

Are you a fan of Toppers on Facebook? Why not join the next 50,000?

Topperstix Day!

Today, Toppers Pizza is celebrating its first annual Worldwide Topperstix Day. All day long, participating locations will offer 50% off all Original Topperstix orders. Additionally, upgrading to another type of Topperstix will cost only $1. To further celebrate the occasion on social media, Toppers will be giving away free Topperstix Single Orders to random people who tweet and post Instagram photos with the hashtag #TopperstixDay. To see all the buzz for yourself, check out the Twitter stream for  #TopperstixDay!

Toppers featured on PizzaMarketplace.com

Toppers Pizza was recently featured in an article called, “Do you know where your customers are?” which published on PizzaMarketplace.com. The article features an interview with Bridget Keeler, marketing manager for Toppers Pizza, who discussed how the Toppers mobile food truck, the Spank Tank, relies on location-based marketing to alert customers on where they can find the truck. Bridget discussed the benefit of using Foursquare and Twitter as a means to broadcast the Spank Tank’s location as well as deals and specials that might be featured by using the location-based social media. The article also highlights the ease with which Foursquare can be implemented and the importance of training the Spank Tank staff on how to use the technology. A portion of the article is below and can be read in its entirety by clicking here.

Do you know where your customers are?

Wisconsin-based Toppers Pizza uses FourSquare and Twitter's GPS function to let its fans know the location of its mobile food truck, the Spank Tank.

"If the Spank Tank is headed to Milwaukee, we can do a search throughout the day/night on Twitter about those talking about the Spank Tank in the Milwaukee market," said Bridget Keeler's, marketing manager of Toppers Pizza. "We can then reach out to them and message them about our presence and tell them about menu items and deals."

Toppers, which has 29 locations but only one food truck, also uses Foursquare as a way to connect with customers.

"We closely monitor the trends of our core demographic, the college student, and saw an opportunity within those trends to tap into marketing the Spank Tank as a mobile venue," Keeler said. "We are able to change as the Spank Tank moves around downtown Milwaukee. This gives our fanatics an easy way to figure out where to feed their appetites at night."

(Read More)

Toppers Social Media Update: Spank Tank, Photo Contest & More!

For those loyal Toppers fanatics that have been on the Toppers Facebook fan page for awhile, they have certainly noticed a change in both look and feel. In the recent weeks, with the unveiling of the Toppers Spank Tank, Toppers has re-designed their page by changing their fan page photo (which includes a dandy QR code) as well as added a tab that gives fanatics the opportunity to request the Spank Tank in their area. These technological advances in the fan page will continue to roll out as Toppers has plans to announce some pretty big things in the near future!

Toppers also wrapped up their 20th Anniversary Photo Contest last week. After receiving a ton of entries, finalists were narrowed down to the top 10. These finalists were then featured at the Toppers Annual Convention in Orlando, FL in front of all franchisees in the system. After the convention, franchisees and fans alike went online and voted for their favorite 1991 photo. The winner received a $250 Toppers Gift Card and eternal fame in the Toppers fanatical social community.

Toppers continues to push the envelop in both their marketing and social presence and have plans to launch another significant social imitative in the very near future. To find out more, become a fan and get your buds spanked on Toppers national Facebook fan page by clicking here.

Toppers featured in Food and Drink Digital

Toppers Pizza was recently featured in an article in Food and Drink Digital called “Toppers Pizza Delivers The Goods”. The article features Scott Iverson, Director of Marketing for Toppers Pizza, discussing Toppers history and how their unique marketing has made them appealing to a relatively untapped market. Iverson discusses the history behind Toppers, how their fresh ingredients make for a superior product and how Toppers maintains their market audience of 18-24 year olds. Iverson also presents the great franchise model and opportunity that Toppers presents for aspiring business owners. Check out the article below:

Toppers featured in Food and Drink Digital

Toppers Pizza featured in Nation's Restaurant News

Toppers Pizza Marketing Manager Bridget Keeler spoke with Nation’s Restaurant News reporter Mark Brandau about how Toppers uses Social Media to create and drive the brand’s advertising for an article in Nation’s Restaurant News called “Collaborative Spirit.” In Toppers' latest contest, it asks Facebook fans to design a car wrap. The winner selected could potentially see a ’74 Mercury Grand Marquis driving around town with his or her design wrapped on the car. View the full article below, or click here!

Toppers Pizza featured in Nation's Restaurant News

Q&A with Toppers' Marketing/Social Media Manager, Bridget Keeler

Recently, we sat down with our Marketing/Social Media Manager, Bridget Keeler, and asked her a few questions about social media. This revolutionary tool gives us the power to consistently interact with our following and also continues to grow our brand. See the full transcript of the interview below:

Can you describe some of Toppers goals and initiatives with social media? Why and how are you using social media to accomplish these goals?

Toppers Pizza puts an extremely high value on listening to what our customers are telling us. Our goal with social media is to give customers what they want. Recently, we were looking to add another House Pizza to our menu. We developed a crowd sourcing contest, Spank Your Pizza, which challenged fanatics to come up with the next pizza for our menu – then paired down more than 100 submissions to 64 finalists who battled it out for three weeks to make it to the top two. The contest generated some delicious pizza ideas and grew our Facebook Fan page by 62% over the course of contest.

Future goals and initiatives include creating apps that will engage our fanatics and continue to build our loyal community. We believe our fanatics are truly interested in the Toppers brand and want to be a part of shaping its success. To further measure that passionate loyalty, we will also be heavily promoting our mobile food truck via social media and will be eventually looking for fanatics to dictate where it shows up to next.

The cool thing about social media is that Toppers has the ability to change the conversation in the pizza industry by engaging and listening to our fanatics. Anyone with an idea worth sharing has the ability to influence the conversation at anytime.

With over 1,000 fans per location, how do you consistently interact and engage your fanatics?

We make it our goal to engage our fanatics multiple times during the day through our posts. These posts can range anywhere from asking them to comment on their favorite dipping sauce, to posting relevant pop culture trends. We like to believe that our fanatics see our page as being similar to hanging out in a room with their friends and having a good time.

We also have a weekly promotion, called “Toppers Tuesdays”, that gives our fanatics exclusive deals on Tuesdays only at any Toppers location. These deals are only found on our social media pages and build specials bonds with us and our fanatics. Deals can range from buy one get one deals to special pricing on regular menu items.

Local Toppers stores also dive into interacting with fanatics on our pages by offering specials to fanatics in their area. Between national and local specials, Toppers is continuously thanking and rewarding our fanatics.

How do you measure social media? (Try and think Return on Engagement – ROI is difficult to measure, etc.)

Toppers is dedicated to making our fanatics happy. We measure social media through return on engagement. Measurement comes in the form of comments, impressions, @mentions, repeat posters, popular posts, and overall brand awareness. Our first and foremost goal is to post content that captures our fanatics attention and gets them talking. While it’s easy to count the measurements mentioned above, our measurement is a constant work in progress as we decipher and understand how social media engagement affects us at every level. Our ultimate goal is to find the connection and balance between social media and our P&L to help determine and set expectations to our social media strategy prior to engagement.

If you could give one piece of advice to business looking to take the jump into social media, what would you say?

If you are looking to take the jump into social media, my advice is to take a big running leap and continue looking ahead. I believe that social media has replaced face to face conversations and is quickly becoming the norm for communication, especially among Toppers’ demographic. The key is constant, consistent, engaging communication. Social media is changing the world by the hour, while you don’t need to be the star on the conversation – you at least need to be part of it.

Toppers Pizza featured in the Wall Street Journal

Toppers Pizza was just recently featured in the Wall Street Journal in an article called “Industry Sees a Strong Rebound But Growth Will Be Uneven,” which published on February 14, 2011. In the article, which focuses on franchise trends for 2011, Toppers Pizza is showcased as a brand taking full advantage of Social Media. Toppers has blown its competition out of the water in utilizing Social Media to engage fans with the brand and further establish brand loyalty. Scott Iverson, Director of Marketing for Toppers, discusses that social networking is the best way to connect with Toppers core target market of 18-24 year olds. It connects fans with pizza recipe contests, weekly specials, a blog, twitter account and YouTube videos. As a result of its strong presence, Toppers has over 27,000 total fans and about 1000 fans per location while its competitors have around 50 per location. Toppers continues to be an industry leader in Social Media. Check out the article here or view the article below!

WSJ - Industry Sees a Strong Rebound But Growth Will Be Uneven

Toppers Pizza featured in QSR Magazine

QSR Magazine recently published an article called “Who needs a $3M TV Spot When You Have Social Media,” in which Toppers Pizza discusses how it plans to leverage Social Media during the big game! Scott Iversen explains how Toppers Pizza is using the success of the Green Bay Packers to their advantage with 20 of the 28 franchised locations being located in Wisconsin. Toppers Pizza has been putting up messages on Facebook and Twitter that coincide with Green Bay's success during the Playoffs! Click here to view the full article.

Who Needs a $3M TV Spot When You Have Social Media?
By SAM OCHES

While some companies will be shelling out as much as $3 million for a 30-second TV spot during Sunday’s Super Bowl, some quick-serve chains plan to ramp up their marketing efforts without even hardly opening their wallets.

Toppers Pizza and Philly Pretzel Factory are two concepts that will leverage social media for their marketing efforts on Super Bowl Sunday, a day for which advertising was once reserved only for billion-dollar brands.

(Read More)

Toppers' Spank Your Pizza Contest featured in Journal & Courier

Toppers was recently featured in an article in the “People & Products” section of the Journal & Courier of Lafeyette, IN. The article alerts readers of Toppers’ “Spank Your Pizza” Facebook tournament, and notes that Toppers has narrowed finalists down to 64, with the winning pizza to be chosen by Toppers’ 17,000 Facebook fans.

People & Products

Toppers Pizza, which has a location in West Lafayette, has narrowed the field of its Spank Your Facebook Pizza Challenge to 64 finalists.

The finalists are asked to create their own pizza menu item with the winning entry becoming a permanent fixture, named after its creator, on Toppers menu nationwide. Toppers has more than 17,000 Facebook fans.

(Read More)

Toppers Promotes 'Spank Your Pizza' on FOX 6 Wake Up

The Toppers team just did a fun segment with FOX 6 Wake Up News on its new social media contest called “Spank Your Pizza” where Toppers fanatics are tasked with finding the next pizza for Toppers menu. Director of Marketing Scott Iversen and General Manager Adam Oldenburg appeared on the segment.

 

Toppers Pizza pioneers with Spank Your Pizza contest

Toppers Pizza is pioneering a whole new wave of social marketing using a theory called crowdsourcing. Through this avenue, Toppers is giving their fans complete creative control and letting them creative Toppers’ next menu item! The winner’s creation will appear on the menu permanently and will be named after the creator. Pizzamarketplace.com just published an article about Toppers’ newest Social Media campaign. Read a portion below or see the full article here.

Toppers Pizza creates new pizza through ‘crowdsourcing’
By Jennifer Litz

The pizza industry has been banking on some colorful tags lately, including Domino’s successful "Oh Yes We Did" mantra. Now expanding Midwestern chain Toppers Pizza is pushing the more cheeky "Spank your 'buds," meant to convey the brand's forte of "really good tasting food," according to marketing director Scott Iversen.

But just as Domino's used its now famous tagline to spearhead a recipe overhaul that admitted previously subpar food, Toppers is launching the promo that goes with the saucy saying: The “Spank Your Pizza” program will allow fans and customers alike to create their own original pizza recipe using the ingredients found at each Toppers. Top entrees will battle each other in a tournament-style bracket, where each recipe advances based on the voting of Toppers’ own Facebook fans. The ultimate winner will have their menu item featured as a part of the Toppers’ menu, also receiving free Toppers for a year as well as a $500 gift card. Second prize will be rewarded free Toppers for a year and a $100 gift card, while every finalist gets a free Triple Order. (Read More)

That’s Right, We’re Cool: Toppers Progresses Itself Into Social Media

Every brand seems to have an increased interest in jumping head first into Social Media, however, few actually create a plan of attack when doing so. For us, Toppers Pizza, we wanted to take a calculated approach that combined a mixture of attainable goals and fun.

Using a contest, our weekly specials (known as Toppers Tuesdays), we crossed over the 10k fan mark on our Facebook Fan Page. Not too bad for a 26-unit pizza chain.

From the get-go, Social Media was so attractive to us because it allows us to make personal connections with all of our Toppers fanatics. We get to interact with them in a fun way in their own personal space. The Toppers brand then becomes more than just a functional brand it becomes a friend, a friend for life. The big benefit of interacting with our fanatics on social networks is it is real time. We can put out a special offer and see immediate results. We can ask our fans a research question and get instant feedback.

Toppers we use social media to make all kinds of different personal connections with our fanatics. We use social media to announce new products, new store openings, conduct research, special offers social media only offers, fun interactive contests, giveaways of Toppers merchandise and most of all we use it to continue to build the culture of a fun, irreverent brand. If one of our fanatics is having a bad day we try to brighten it by giving them a special offer or simply telling them a joke.

Additionally, Social Media has provided us with a glimpse of the future. We believe that Social Media will completely change the advertising landscape. Consumers, today, are bombarded by brand messaging. They are getting more and more numb to traditional “sell me” type advertising. Today’s consumer picks brands for more than just their functional benefit (what the product/service does for them). Customers today and in the future are going to associate themselves with brands that align with their own personal beliefs and value structure. Social Media allows brands like Toppers to be a part of their daily lives in a way that traditional advertising will never be able to accomplish.

Social Media definitely is more than just another form of retail advertising; it helps educate people on our franchising opportunities. We use our Topperspizza Guy profile on Facebook as a day in the life of a Toppers franchise owner. So when a person is interested in learning about the Toppers franchise opportunity and they do a search of the web our social media sites help to educate the potential owner on the power of the Toppers brand. Social Media really helps us sell the difference of our brand compared to our closest competitors.

If you take a look around our Social Sites, you may be impressed on first glance, but this is just the beginning, as we learn more about us as a brand and most importantly, how our consumers see us.

Toppers Pizza mushrooms in area

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.



Read it online at the Journal Sentinel