Toppers Pizza president: Culture creates rapid growth

Scott Gittrich created the Toppers Pizza* brand in 1991 as an alternative to the chain where he got his start in the pizza business, Domino’s. He wanted to create a different restaurant in terms of not only a higher-quality, more expansive menu, but also in terms of a culture and brand voice that was more fun for customers and employees. As Toppers expanded steadily from its headquarters in Whitewater, Wisconsin, to its current 63 locations in 10 states, it quickly became known for an irreverent brand voice built upon humorous slogans, fun delivery drivers, and marketing programs tailored to its college student audience. But the larger and more sophisticated Toppers gets — which increasingly attracts multiunit franchise investors looking to expand — the more important it is to Gittrich that the brand never lose its corporate culture. “When I left Domino’s to start Toppers, I saw a place and a need for a great, made-from-scratch pizza with a more complex menu, but what we really dared to hope to achieve — and what’s come true — is that it would also be a special place for the people who worked there,” Gittrich said. “I’ve always wanted it to be more than a fast-food job and more than just a place where you dragged yourself to clock in.” He noted that the corporate team constantly strives to communicate with franchisees as well as managers and employees at the unit level, soliciting feedback and, more importantly, ideas for serving customers better. Gittrich, who in addition to being the brand’s founder and president also owns 19 Toppers stores, does town-hall-style meetings with several locations at once about once a month. “We love asking our team members how to serve the customer better and where we fit in the market, because they have a true and accurate angle on the customers,” he said. He added that when a service idea suggested by a team member gets implemented, it usually has benefits as far-reaching for the employees as they do for the guests. “At the last town hall I did, a guy pulls me aside, and he’s probably 45 years old and delivering pizzas for us,” he recalled. “He’d spoken to us a couple of times about adding a clipboard to his delivery routine for customers to sign credit card receipts on at the door, and we said OK. It’s just a little touch point, but it made a huge difference [in customer satisfaction].” It also made a big difference in that delivery driver’s life, strengthening his sense of purpose in an organization that, while still growing rapidly, took the time to listen to his suggestion, Gittrich said. “He told me working at Toppers has changed his life … relieving a lot of his stress and changing how he thinks about all the choices he makes,” he said. “He always thought a job was where you go to make money and where you can’t possibly have fun. But from day one, he has worked with people intent to have fun and laugh at work.” It is not uncommon for Gittrich to hear of staffers or managers moving up to a general manager at a new store and bringing handfuls of teammates with them, which shows him that Toppers’ efforts to hire the right people with the right attitude and to foster a real rapport with one another is working. “What makes Toppers a special place to us and the connection we have to one another special is the belief we have in what we’re doing,” Gittrich said. “We think we have an important place in the world. Some might look at us and see a crappy job, just delivering pizzas, but we’re the people bringing the pizza to your party; we’re the ones bringing fun to your office. We’re not curing Ebola, but there is a place in the world for us to bring all the fun. We take that seriously.” Toppers has identified Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Kansas, and Des Moines, Iowa, as key development markets going forward.