Franchisee Stories
Since starting with the brand more than 20 years ago, the longstanding Toppers veteran has continued to expand his footprint and see an increase in sales thanks to the brand’s extensive menu, first-party delivery platform and franchisee support infrastructure.
Pizza industry veteran Bill Stayduhar has been a part of Toppers Pizza, the pizza chain with 69 corporate- and franchise-owned locations in 12 states, since before the brand even started. Stayduhar met Scott Gittrich — Toppers’ eventual CEO and founder — back when the two entrepreneurs worked at Domino’s. When Stayduhar heard about Gittrich’s plan to launch Toppers with a focus on fast service, technology, menu innovation and quality ingredients, he knew he had to jump aboard. Since joining the brand in 1997, Stayduhar has expanded to four locations and is still growing today. In fact, despite the challenges of the last year, he even saw a whopping 50% increase in customers in 2020.
Today, Toppers has become one of the fastest-growing pizza chains in the country as the brand continues to appeal to qualified entrepreneurs like Stayduhar looking to franchise with a thriving brand.
Stayduhar started out as a pizza driver with Domino’s in 1984 while attending Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina. During that time, he mastered the ins and outs of the pizza industry and in 1993, he coupled his experience with entrepreneurship and opened his first Domino’s franchise in Pittsburgh. Stayduhar and Gittrich had stayed in touch over the years, and when Gittrich started Toppers, Stayduhar knew the concept offered an unmatched growth opportunity. In 1997, Stayduhar traveled to Toppers’ corporate headquarters to meet with Gittrich and learn more about the business opportunity.
“The original differentiator that sold me on Toppers was the incredible menu — the recipes, the food, the high-quality toppings,” said Stayduhar. “I had experience in the pizza segment, and I could see, hands down, Toppers had the best house pizzas. They used made-from-scratch dough, a proprietary sauce recipe, 100% Wisconsin cheese and more. That definitely remains a huge selling point today.”
Toppers prides itself on taking the quality ingredients and extensive menus often limited to fast-casual and bringing them to customers through the convenience and affordability of the quick-service delivery segment.
In September 1997, Stayduhar took a leap and sold his Domino’s franchise, moved to Fort Mill, South Carolina and opened his first Toppers in Charlotte, North Carolina. A second location followed in October 1998. After operating those locations for nearly two decades, Stayduhar opened his third location a few years ago in South Carolina. Now, Stayduhar shows no signs of slowing down and even opened a fourth location in Tega CAy, South Carolina just this past month.
Stayduhar says his continued growth is only possible because of Toppers’ incredible support infrastructure. The brand’s robust corporate team, which is much larger than most brands its size, includes eight developers in a massive IT department.
“The Toppers team is incredibly hands-on when needed. People in every department, including operations, training, marketing and social media are just a phone call away,” said Stayduhar. “In addition, franchisees receive evaluations four times a year from the corporate team. While that support is there, they also listen to our feedback and give us the freedom to make decisions based on our individual stores. That support foundation, which is much more advanced than many brands our size, has really allowed us to continue thriving over the past year. That is another thing that is impressive about Toppers — as small as we are, we do things big.”
When the pandemic hit, Stayduhar says Toppers found itself in a uniquely well-positioned place. Although many restaurant brands had to scramble to adapt to the changing consumer demand, Toppers has always been committed to providing convenience to customers through advanced technology, which includes a proprietary first-party delivery platform and digital POS system. These differentiators have always positioned franchisees for success, but they have become more essential than ever as the pizza delivery segment booms.
“We’ve been doing this for 24 years, but when the pandemic hit, our offering happened to meet customers exactly where they were,” said Stayduhar. “We deliver the safest and freshest food and specialize in fast and convenient off-premise offerings. We also enhanced this framework by rolling out contactless delivery and curbside pick-up.”
In addition to off-premise services, Stayduhar says the pandemic validated the brand’s family-driven value proposition. “As people spent more time at home, families were all together in the house and were ordering more and more family-size meals,” he said. “This not only increased our sales but gave us the opportunity to show people in my area that Toppers not only has an extensive menu but was and is proud to offer families affordable and high-quality pizza during tough times.”
As a result of this well-positioned business model, Toppers same-store sales are up 20% to 30% on a weekly basis. Stayduhar notes he has also continued his five-year stretch of record-breaking sales despite the challenges of the year. In fact, his locations have seen 25% to 50% more customers than last year. This success allowed Stayduhar to open his fourth location this month, and he hopes to continue opening one new Toppers restaurant every year.
“Bill Stayduhar is a perfect example of a Topper’s franchisee who is growing during the pandemic because of his incredible dedication to his customers,” said Gittrich. “He is a true franchisee leader and has continued to share best practices and resources for the franchisee community at Topper's during this crisis. As Bill expands his footprint, we are excited to watch him grow after all these years and are proud to have him on the team.”
Now, Gittrich says the demand for high-quality pizza delivery isn’t going anywhere, and Toppers is offering smart, experienced operators like Stayduhar the opportunity to capitalize on the well-positioned concept and add a scalable business to their portfolio.
The investment range for a Toppers Pizza franchise is $314,075-530,000. The AUV for the fiscal year 2020 was $1,050,000+ for stores open five years or more.
For more information on franchising with Toppers Pizza, visit: https://www.toppers.com/franchise/
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