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Innovative Upstarts Part 2 - Toppers: A cocky brand that dares to take on the big pizza guys

Scrappy anti-corporate brand, Toppers Pizza, is almost daily delivering a box full of attitude to the older more iconic pie-makers in this sector.

July 1, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

The pizza marketplace is on fire these days, particularly with fast casual brands touting high-end ingredients and special baking methods acquired at respected European culinary training centers. Meanwhile, the old die-hard chains wage war from the offices of their corporate marketing teams over everything from who can get their bacon-stuffed crust to market first to which brand is tops when it comes to sustainable food practices.

That's just fine with the scrappy anti-corporate brand, Toppers Pizza, where pizza makers are busy delivering a box full of attitude to those older more iconic pie-makers in everything from marketing to some rather heated social media comments by the chain's founder. Whatever you may think about the approach there's no denying it's getting noticed when this younger brand is reporting a 23-percent spike in sales last year over 2014. 

All the while, its ultra-confident founder and CEO Scott Gittrich sits in the driver's seat of this cocky, anti-the-man brand with some very clear ideas about who the chain's customer is and how they like their pizza, as we learned in this question-and-answer session with Gittrich recently. .
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Q: What would you say was the breakthrough moment for the chain over its recent history?
A: Breakthroughs are like layers of an onion: It keeps getting better for Toppers. The most recent breakthrough has been shifting in the last year to limiting our new franchise partnerships to well-funded groups with multi-unit restaurant experience. Since then we have completed six high quality deals for 54 stores. There is a real appetite out there amongst high quality restaurant people for up-and-coming quality food-based brands with a fanatic culture and room to grow.

Q: What do you consider to be the key elements to success for the brand and how do you live that?

A:Toppers is a brand whose target market is 18- to 34-year-olds and has been since the beginning! We are thankful to compete with the Walmarts of the industry — the … places that are all things to all people. Our customers and team members are loyal fanatics. 
We make our food from scratch from high quality ingredients and today's consumers, particularly millennials, care about that. From a franchising attractiveness standpoint, our extremely strong unit economics added to top development markets being available, is driving most of our conversations. 
Lastly, the pizza segment is leading the restaurant industry in terms of technology, namely e-commerce. We have a top-five e-commerce site in the segment and are doing more than 40 percent of our sales on Toppers.com.  

Q: A lot of this brand is built around you, the founder. Is that intentional and if so, why?

A: Well, I can’t help myself — I'm passionate about the brand we have built. I am not a professional spokesperson and I am not quoted or pictured in our marketing, but I suppose I’m not shy either. I am very proud of our strong and experienced leadership team and the incredible infrastructure we have built. The founder is the CEO, but we are professionally run. The fact that we're running circles around some of our competitors is proof of that.

Q: There’s a lot of passion in the pizza industry and that certainly holds true for Toppers. Is that key to the kind of growth and success the chain has thus far? If so, how will you maintain that when this chain gets as old as some of your competitors?
A:You obviously have your finger on something here, so you’ve done your research. A lot of people that are drawn to Toppers are looking for a brand they can be passionate about. Many of those people themselves used to be involved in a brand that was exciting and they are looking for that again. 
We have such a strong core of passionate leaders driving the brand that it is nearly inconceivable that we would lose our way. Our core values and pursuit of excellence truly guide us in our decision making. Our customers get it. Our franchisees get it. 
Check back with me on how our culture is when we are a top national chain in a few years.  My bet is that we are going to still be kicking ass.

Q: Can you share some details about your future plans for the chain, including innovations and how you weave those into into your process as you move forward through the years?
A:Toppers Pizza was founded with a simple idea: Killer, handmade pizza focused on toppings, delivered fast by passionate people. Our future is to continue to own that. 
Our future menu innovations will focus on the best ingredients possible. That's a stand-out position in (this) segment. … 

In addition, we invest heavily in customer-facing technology and will continue to do that forever. The plans on the drawing board are incredible and that is not hyperbole. Imagine a car delivering your pizza without a delivery driver. It will happen and Toppers will be on the front end of it.

Q: What’s your favorite item on the menu and why?
A:Today I’m going for a triple order of Original Topperstix with Toppers ranch dressing and marinara for dipping sauce. Ah! The cheesy and buttery goodness of our signature product. If you're asking why that's my favorite item, then you haven’t had them yet. Get thee to your local Toppers Pizza store. ...  I love them for the taste and the fact that I and our franchisees are sending our kids to college on them!

Editor's Note: We (and probably you, too) are out playing on Monday, July 4. But come right back here on Tuesday morning for the next Q-and-A in our series with Slim Chickens COO Sam Rothschild. 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.