Toppers Pizza Targets Des Moines and Cedar Rapids for Continued Midwestern Growth

Toppers Pizza, the 70-plus unit pizza delivery franchise on the cusp of major franchise expansion, has its sights set specifically on Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa for growth. Over the past year, the pandemic created an unprecedented demand for conveniently delivered, delicious pizza, and as a result, Toppers has continued to sign new franchisees across the country. Now, as the world reopens, pizza is the perfect food for both gatherings and online ordering, and Toppers is focused on welcoming qualified franchisees in the Hawkeye State.

In total, the Toppers team has identified room for around six additional units in Des Moines and around three in Cedar Rapids. The decision to focus on the area comes after a record-breaking sales year for the nearby Rochester West store in Minnesota.

“We are focused on these Iowa markets because they are geographically between the two states that already have good saturation and strong success — our home state of Wisconsin and Minnesota,” said Brian Ognian, Topper’s vice president of development. “Rochester West is the highest volume store, and it's only an hour north of the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids area.”

Scott Iversen, the Toppers franchise owner in Rochester, says demand has been sky-high in his community and continues to grow. “We are super excited to have achieved the highest volume in the Toppers system over the past year,” he said. “We’ve been incredibly busy, and the Toppers team has helped support us and provide us with the tools to ensure we can continue to satisfy the demand and provide delicious and convenient pizza to our community.”

And Iversen certainly isn’t the only Toppers franchisee to see increased top-line sales over the past year despite the challenges of the pandemic. The brand surpassed an average unit volume (AUV) of $1,000,000 for the first time, with an AUV for the fiscal year of 2020 over $1,010,000 for stores open three years or more.* This is in large part due to the increased demand for off-premise service in the quick-service pizza segment, and Toppers’ commitment to providing convenience to customers through a customized POS and online ordering platform allowed the brand to thrive.

Toppers’ proprietary e-commerce platform allows franchisees to leverage a first-party delivery system, available through each owner’s POS system. This means franchisees save a significant amount of money on the notoriously expensive fees associated with the usual third-party delivery providers. The direct delivery platform also ensures Toppers franchise owners can exhibit more quality control and communication with the customer.

Now, with steadily rising AUVs and consumer behavior starting to shift to a healthy mix of off-premise and on-premise dining, prospective franchisees in the Des Moine-Cedar Rapids area have the opportunity to capitalize on both with a well-positioned concept and innovative business model.

“It is an exciting time, and people are continuing to recognize the well-positioned value of our type of concept as more and more entrepreneurs look to start their own business and work for themselves,” CEO Scott Gittrich said. “Now, Toppers is continuing to look for qualified entrepreneurs in key growth markets across the country, who are eager to utilize our proven systems and grow with the brand.”

The investment range for a Toppers Pizza franchise is $314,075 to $530,000, with the initial fees coming in at $10,000 to $30,000. For more information on franchising with Toppers Pizza, visit: https://www.toppers.com/franchise/.

 **The financial performance set forth is for the 13 periods ended October 3, 2021 (“2021 Period”) for all restaurants (both affiliate-owned and franchised) that were open as of October 3, 2021, and that had been open and operating for at least the full 13 periods.

The 2021 Period ran from October 5, 2020 to October 3, 2021 and consisted of 364 days.  As of October 3, 2021, there were 68 Toppers Pizza restaurants open and operating.  Two of the franchised restaurants and two of the affiliate-owned restaurants did not operate during the entire 2021 Period, so those four restaurants were excluded from the results.  Please refer to our 2021 FDD, as amended October 15, 2021, for additional information. 

Minnesota Franchise Registration No. F-4129. 

This information is not intended as an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy a franchise.  It is for informational purposes only.  Offer is made only by prospectus.