With the economy back on track, Toppers Pizza is looking for cross country growth.
Toppers Pizza is looking to grow and spread its pizza across the nation. After the recession, the Whitewater, Wisconsin-based pizza chain is back on track and tweaking its strategy to open more stores and spreading cheesy goodness to areas outside the Midwest.
"Restaurants are outperforming the economy, pizza is outperforming restaurants and we're outperforming pizza," Toppers Pizza President and founder Scott Gittrich told the Milwaukee Business Journal.
Part of the expansion plan includes finding franchisees with the financial wherewithal to open regional Toppers locations and grow from there. Gittrich plans on having 200 Toppers in 20 states by 2020. While the brand is smaller than its competitors, it’s what sets them apart.
"We're the little guy, and that's how we talk," Gittrich said.
Toppers separates itself from the competition is by not being the other guys. The brand differentiates itself with a wide array of toppings not served by the bigger brands. In addition to that, the brand has an irreverent tone that targets their customers by not doing what the other brands do.
The franchise brand’s expansion has mostly been in the Midwest. As Toppers grows, it hopes to target Georgia, Texas and South Carolina. Gittrich hopes for six to eight franchise deals this year, yielding close to 25 percent growth each year. Toppers plans on opening its 100th store in late 2016.
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