Toppers Pizza is Winning the Better Pizza War

For years, Scott Gittrich has talked to people in Wisconsin about their favorite pizza. He noticed that it was always the small, mom-and-pop or independent restaurants that people were quick to rattle off. But Gittrich, who is the founder and CEO of Toppers Pizza, also realized a disparity—there were tons of Pizza Huts throughout Madison, and they were responsible for selling nearly a third of the pizza in the region. The only problem was, he could never get anyone to admit that Pizza Hut was the go-to spot to pick up a slice.

“I noticed that people eat there, but nobody is proud of it. And not only are they not proud to eat there, but they take pride in frequenting any type of non-“big boy” pizza chains,” Gittrich said. “Chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut have great business models, but the product that they’re delivering isn’t so great. With pizza, most people love to point to a unique place that they’re proud to promote as being ‘their’ pizza spot. Our goal at Toppers has always been that place for people—something that you can feel proud of. We’ll never sacrifice our food’s quality.”

That mentality has long been part of Toppers’ advantage. They’re able to compete against—and surpass—most of the bigger pizza chains out there by offering the same perks of speedy delivery and convenience while simultaneously offering a higher-quality product that people can feel good about. This unique niche has put Toppers in a position to vie for a chunk of the market share that would otherwise go to the pizza industry’s biggest chains, and so far, they’re coming out on top: the brand ranked second on the PMQ/Technomic 2015 Pizza Power Report of sales percentage increases of the top 50 chains. Papa John’s, Domino’s and Pizza Hut didn’t even crack the top five.

Toppers’ upper-hand comes from its drive to never settle. The brand uses fresh dough and fresh ingredients. They aren’t afraid to get innovative with their menu to keep up with evolving tastes. And they won’t stand for slow delivery times or bad customer service.

“We’re still a relatively small company. It allows us to stay nimble, and we’re able to out-maneuver a lot of these bigger chains that are sort of set in their ways. These places are ubiquitous—they’re known for their homogenous, cheap pizza. And they’ll always stay that way—it’ll be hard for them to ever change,” said Scott Iversen, vice president of marketing for Toppers. “Our advantage is that we can do exactly what all these bigger chains are doing, which is quick delivery, but with a huge advantage of offering a better, and much more high-quality product.”

Toppers is already well on its way to becoming an industry leader. In 2015, 73 percent of all stores boasted record sales, boosting overall system-wide sales up 22.5 percent from 2014. And in just the past two years, Toppers has grown from 46 restaurants to 73.

“We’re the second-fastest growing pizza chain for a reason—people are tired of not having a great choice for pizza delivery. Toppers is revolutionizing pizza delivery by offering better pizza—we’re out there hustling and showing our customers that there’s a place where they don’t have to settle,” Iversen said.

To learn more about Toppers Pizza, click here.