Heating Up The Streets: Toppers Pizza ‘Spank Tank’ Unveiled

Late night hunger, beware! Toppers Pizza is gearing up to launch its latest innovation: The Toppers ‘Spank Tank.’ On June 24, Toppers Pizza will unveil its first food truck for the pizza-loving public of Milwaukee, WI to enjoy. With plans to service the late night bar scene, the Spank Tank will call the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Toppers location its home. It will sell Toppers’ world famous Topperstix and, for the very first time, House and one-topping pizzas by the slice.

“You may have heard of the food trucks craze, but I can guarantee you’ve never seen anything like the Spank Tank,” said Bridget Keeler, Toppers manager of marketing. “This will turn heads and cause complete insanity when we roll this thing out on the streets of Milwaukee. Its presence is unbelievable.”

Just like the slogan suggests, the Spank Tank will be spanking customer’s buds with “a piece all summer long.” It was an idea that hatched back in 2009 and since then, the Toppers team has developed a way to turn its brick and mortar location mobile. The truck includes a full-size oven and fully functional kitchen. At 26 feet wide and 13 feet tall, the Spank Tank is equipped to handle Milwaukee’s late night hunger pangs.

“Bar time will never be the same,” said Drew Craker, manager of Toppers Spank Tank. “Being behind the wheel of the Spank Tank will be like being a famous celebrity…all eyes on you, its show time baby.”

According to Drew Craker, he plans to be at all the hot bar spots multiple times a night in the Spank Tank selling fresh Toppers pizza to the brand’s core customer – the college student.

What else is in store with the Spank Tank? Toppers fanatics will have the opportunity to rent the Spank Tank for their events. While Toppers plans to develop several more food trucks in other Toppers Pizza markets across the country, for now, it’s just Milwaukee that will benefit from the truck promising to give you “a piece all summer long.”

“We are a 20 year old brand that refuses to stop at mediocre,” said Keeler. “At every turn, we are thinking of new ways for our customers and fanatics to interact with the Toppers brand. We believe the Spank Tank is something extraordinary that will get people talking. Now let’s hear what Milwaukee has to say.”

Toppers Pizza featured in Daily Chronicle

Toppers Pizza was recently featured in an article in the Daily Chronicle called “Toppers Pizza helps good cause while preparing for contest.” The article features Chris Schneider, general manager of Toppers Pizza in DeKalb, Illinois discussing his training for the Skin Sprints competition, a contest where the participants create six 14-inch pizzas as fast as they can. Chris will be participating in this competition on June 21 along with other Toppers qualifiers. The article also discusses the community outreach opportunity that training for Skin Sprints has given the Toppers DeKalb location. After each practice, Chris has been donating the finished pizzas to a local shelter called Hope Haven. Click here to view the full article!

Toppers Pizza helps good cause while preparing for contest
By NICOLE WESKERNA

DeKALB – Chris Schneider, general manager of Toppers Pizza in DeKalb, sometimes makes as many as two dozen pizzas when he practices for the fastest pizza-making competition that is coming up next week.

The pizzas are made to be cooked and eaten, not frozen, Schneider said. When he started practicing, he accumulated perfectly good pizzas that couldn’t be frozen, so he decided to start donating them to the Hope Haven shelter in DeKalb until the competition is over.

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Toppers Pizza featured in Indianapolis Star

Toppers Pizza was recently featured in a brief article called “Wisconsin’s Toppers Pizza plans metro-area restaurants” which appeared in the Indianapolis Star. In the article, Brett Larrabee, Topper’s Director of Franchise Development, discusses the interest that Toppers has in bringing franchisees into the market. The article also discusses some of the menu highlights that Toppers has to offer as well as describes the 1,600 square foot restaurant. Click here to view the full article!

Wisconsin's Toppers Pizza plans metro-area restaurants

Toppers Pizza aims to open 12 to 16 restaurants in the Indianapolis area in the next two years.

"We have a lot of interest in that market" and are searching for one or two franchisees, said Brett Larrabee, director of franchise development for the Whitewater, Wis., chain of 28 stores.

(Read More)

Hope You Had The Time Of Your Life: Graduating Seniors Send Their Farewell to Toppers

It doesn’t take very long for college students to move onto campus and sniff out the local Toppers Pizza. Students grow to be fanatical about the pizza powerhouse as it becomes a friend during finals or a cold breakfast companion. Toppers’ unique focus on 18-25 year olds and youthful branding has made it wildly popular with college kids.

Each spring, seniors all over the country celebrate years of hard work and dedication as they graduate and move into the working world. However, only a select few are lucky enough to have spent their late-night study sessions and early-morning partying with Toppers Pizza. Before these college grads move on, we have asked a few to take a moment to reflect on the special memories made possible by Toppers.

Stephen Olman
College: University of Cincinnati
Degree: Marketing
Favorite Toppers Location: Cincinnati, Ohio – Calhoun St.
Favorite Toppers Item: The Topperstix. The cheese, sauce and topping options make them so unique.
How did you first hear about Toppers?
I first heard about Toppers during my senior year when they opened in Cincinnati near campus. The first time I ordered Toppers with my friends, we ordered a ton of it! Our first order consisted of four pizzas and Topperstix.
What is your favorite Toppers memory?
My favorite memory is ordering Toppers every Sunday at 3 p.m. to watch football. We’d eat so much of it that everyone would pass out, and then wake up only to eat more Toppers.
What will you miss most about Toppers after graduation?
I’ll definitely miss the Topperstix!

Shauna Casolari
College: Northern Illinois University
Degree: Sociology
Favorite Toppers Location: Dekalb, Illinois
Favorite Toppers Item: A triple order of Topperstix. I love all of the different sauce options!
How did you first hear about Toppers?
I transferred to NIU as junior and found a menu on my windshield at my new apartment complex. When my roommate and I were moving, we didn’t have time to cook so we tried it right away.
What is your favorite Toppers memory?
Our Ultimate Frisbee team once had a competition to see who could eat the most of a Tall Boy pizza. One of our teammates ate an entire Buffalo Chicken Tall Boy! After that, I never looked at a Buffalo Chicken Tall Boy the same.
What will you miss most about Toppers after graduation?
I’ll miss the variety of the menu and how late they stay open. I love coming home, doing my homework and ordering late night Toppers to help me get through it all.

Stephen Sanders
College: Carroll University
Degree: Sociology and Psychology
Favorite Toppers Location: Waukesha – East Moreland Boulevard
Favorite Toppers Item: Topperstix and Tall Boys!
How did you first hear about Toppers?
I moved from Indiana to Wisconsin to attend college and rushed for a fraternity. They had Toppers at one of the rush events and after trying it for the first time I was hooked.
What is your favorite Toppers memory?
After my fraternity’s formal during my sophomore year, we went to a hotel room for the after party and decided to order Toppers. I wasn’t feeling too well so I was in the bathroom when the pizza was delivered and a couple of my friends brought me a slice to make me feel better. As they were in the bathroom with me, some really creepy people walked into our hotel room and started asking us weird questions. In an effort to freak the intruders out, I dunked my slice of pizza into the toilet and then took a bite. They left right away.
What will you miss most about Toppers after graduation?
That there isn’t a Toppers near where I live and I won’t be able to order it anymore!

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 QSR Magazine

Reporter Sam Oches of QSR, a restaurant industry trade publication, spoke with Scott Iversen about Toppers Pizza’s new focus on franchise development. The new direction focuses on attracting multi-unit operators who have a diverse portfolio of restaurant experience. Toppers has also hired two new key employees to round up its team: Brett Larrabee, formerly on the 5 Guys Burgers & Fries franchise development team and Curtis White, formerly with Quizno’s on the operations end. The strategic short term goal is for 100 units by the end of 2013 and the long term plan is to have 500 locations by 2020. Check out the article to learn more about Toppers growth.

Toppers Lays Out Plans for Accelerated Growth
By Sam Oches

Toppers Pizza announced that, as a means to accelerate growth, the company will start focusing on employing multiunit franchisees with diverse portfolios instead of single-unit operators.

The 28-unit, Whitewater, Wisconsin–based brand is aiming to have 100 units open and operating by 2013, says director of marketing Scott Iversen.
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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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